



(te^ '^r^x-^iM- 



Book 



% 



JJ 



By bequest of 



William Lukens Shoemaker 



J BOWER OF DELIGHTS, 




51 Se aPIi?ab«if)Hn librarp. 




4 



I 



A Bower of Delights ; 

Being interwoven Verfe and 

Profe from the works of 

Nicholas Breton : the 
•I 

weaver Alexander 
B. Grofart. 



CHICAGO 
A. C. McCLURG & CO. 

Elliot Stock, 62, Paternoster Row, London 






.:bA^' 



\'2 



^^ 



Our title-page in its first portion is taken from a book 
semi-disclaimed by Breton, but nevertheless apt for these 
Extracts. It was published in 1591, and was disclaimed in 
his 'Pilgrimage to Paradise,' albeit a quarrel with the 
publisher of the ' Bower of Delights' rather than the truth 
of fact explains the uncharacteristically sour and rude 
disclaimer. It is to be hoped the ' Bower of Delights ' will 
be reproduced some day. Only one exemplar is known, 

and it is in private hands. 

A. B. G. 



o 

\S. INTRODUCTION. 

ly^ere is this differ entiatioti between our 
prefefit worthy, 

Nicholas Breton, Gentleman, 

and his two predeceffors in this Series — 
Sir Philip Sidney and Sir Walter 
Raleigh — that whereas we Jiill read and 
value their writings mainly for what the 
men were, and Jo as Jhedding light on their 
charaBers^ in his cafe the man is a mere 
nominis umbra, while his books are 
intrinfcally preferve-worthy. Sidney and 
Raleigh feized the nation^ s imagination and 
heart in * the fpacious days ' of great 
Elizabeth, and this has imparted an in- 
trinfic inter eji and immortality to their 
books. Whatever of inter ejl and imperijh- 
able fluff belongs to lefs projninent aSiors 
mujl be fetched from their ^thoughts 
that breathe and words that burn^ them- 
felves. 

We have told, as fully as might be at 
fo late a day, the life-ftory of Breton in 



viii Introdu£fion, 

our Memorial Introduction prefixed to the 
two majjive quartos that contain his Works 
in the 'Chertfey Worthies Library^i^jg). 
Thither the ftudent-reader is referred. 
Here J our notice throughout muji be brief 
and fummary. He was the fecond fon of 
William Breton, of Red Crofs Street, 
Cripplegate, London, who had a lineage 
that warranted that fon^s ufe of ^Gentle- 
man ' after his name. EJfex, Lincoln, 
Leicefterjhire and France yield many 
Bretons related and inter-related. 

The age of Mafier Nicholas in his 
father's Will — given by us as above in 
extenfo — carries us back to 1 542-3 as his 
birth-date ; and the contents of the fame 
Will Jhow that his pathetic after-references 
to having been * once rich * and * gently 
bred ' were equally jujiified. The family- 
property — houfes and lands — lay * in Cheap- 
fide ' (' an acre^ no lefs — worth half a million 
to-day probably), Effex and Lincoln. 

We have only one folitary glimpfe of his 
academic training. It occurs in an inci- 
dental entry in the {fill unpublifi^ed) Diary 
of the Rev. Richard Madox {Sloane MS. 
5008) under \\th March, 1582, as 
follows : 

* / dyned w' Mr. Carlil at his brother 



Intro du^ion. 



Hudfon^Si who is governour of Antwerp. 
He offered me x^' to take a boy w^ me 
[cipher], 

* Ther was Mr. Brytteriy once of Oriel 
College, zv"^ made wyts wyl. He fpeaketh 
Italian wel [cipher"]^ 

This yields us three faBs: 

a. That our Nicholas Breton was '■once'' 
of Oriel College, Oxford. 

b. That he was now [1582] abroad, and 
[poke ''Italian.^ 

c. That his ' Will of Wit ' was well 
known fo early as 1582. 

Eheu, like too many of our Vniverjity 
MSS.^ the Regijiers of renowned * OrieP 
of the period, have dif appeared; fo that his 
courfe at Oxford cannot be traced. He 
fever al times dif claims learning; but pro- 
bably it was his fnodejly that led him fo 
to depreciate himfelf Various of his books 
reveal fomewhat extenfive travels and obfer- 
vation of men and manners all over Europe: 
albeit he never wearies of exalting * this 
our England ' and home. 

The next noticeable point is a fome- 
what forrowful one ; for it tells us that 
his mother looked more to her own pecuniary 
interejls than to the welfare of her father- 
lefs children. Well left, all was con- 



Introduction, 



tingent on her remaining *'fok^ {i.e., a 
ividow). A law-fuit enfued for the pro- 
teSiion of the family ; but it appears to 
have been compromifed privately. The 
widozVy however, had previoufly married 
George Gafcoigne, the once ^famous ' poet. 
It is pleafant to note that there are 
allufions and circumftances cafually men- 
tioned by Breton that feem to be declara- 
tive of friendjhip between the Jlepfather 
and his Jfepfon. 

Another interejiing event is Breton's own 
marriage, as recorded in the Re gift er of St. 
Giles, Cripplegate, London: 

'1592-3, Jan. 14. Nicholas Brytten 
and Ann Sutton.^ 

The fame Regifter contains the ufual 
lights and ftyadows of home-life in Baptifms 
and Burials. I fear Mrs. Nicholas 
Breton proved a ftprew and unfympathetic. 
His after-defcriptions — poignant and vivid 
— of the '■Unquiet wife' compel us to 
think fo. 

. In the Memorial- IntroduSiion already 
named, will be found a chronological lift 
of the numerous productions of Breton, with 
details. They date from 1577 and run on 
to 1626. In 1577 he dejignates certain 
of his fcattered verfes as the * Workes of a 



Introduction. 



Yonge Wit J He muji have ^ lifped in 
yiumbers.^ 

He went on writing to the clofe of a long 
life; and no more pathetic perfonality of 
the period greets us than this '•fine old 
Englijh gentleman^* fallen on evil days^ but 
ever bearing himfelf bravely and worjhip- 
fully. There are touches of melancholy^ 
but never oj queruloufnefs. He outlived 
his great contemporaries and friends, 
Jacobean times looked poor and mean in 
the light of Elizabethan. Still he held 
himfelf in heart of hope and cheer. Nor is 
his leaf difiinfiion that he — bating inevitable 
coarfenefs of manners-painting — food pure 
and Jirong. His laft book was his * Fan- 
tafticks : feruing for a perpetuall Prognos- 
tication* . ... one of his brighteft and 
mofi winfome profe books. It was pub- 
lijhed in 1626, and his name thenceforth 
juddenly difappears. All but certainly he 
died in 1626, and thus had reached his 
%ird year. 

Sooth to fay, it has been Jomewhat of a 
burden to make the fender feleBions from 
the many writings of Nicholas Breton within 
the limits of this fmall volume. There was 
ever and anon another and another bit that 
claimed inclufion, and * brave tranfiunary 



xii Introduction. 



things ' that feemed to cry out againji ex- 
clufion. It were idle to pretend that he is 
anything like reprefentatively dealt with 
herein^ either as a warbler of poetic profe 
or as '• fweet finger * having a difiin£iive 
note. But fufficient^ I hope, has been 
J'eleiled to fend many and many a new 
ftudent-reader to his Works. 

I dare to claim higher recognition for 
Nicholas Breton than hitherto on theftrength 
of even thefe inadequate feleSiions. His 
profe gives us glimpfes of England when it 
was ''Merry England,^ alike in gentle and 
fimple^ in court and country. I think of 
the dainty delicacies of a Watteau on china 
as I read his frejb and well-worded de- 
lineations of men and things. Then, even 
his lighteji and fiighteji pamphlets are 
weighted with com?non fenfe, aptly phrafed. 
I believe mo ft will agree with me that many 
of the prefent-day forms of proverbs and pro- 
verbial fayings originated with him. Of 
his lowly^ reverent, devout inward life one 
could hardly fay too much. Now and again, 
?nonotonoufiy fweet, his facred verfe takes 
alfo 0* times iridefcent hues, and utters out 
pajfionate experiences. A chief diftinBion 
is his charaSier-painting or word-portraits. 
No one who will take pains to fiudy his 



Introdu5lion. 



* No Whippinge ' and Pafquil tractates 
will difpute that therein are to be found 
unacknowledged and hitherto unnoted in- 
debtednefs of George Herbert in his *- Temple'' 
to Breton. Some of the quainteji fancies 
and tnojl aptly put homely counfels of the 
Parfon-poet of Bemerton refleSl again and 
again the earlier poet and thinker. Let 
the quotations from * No Whippinge ' and 

* PafquiPs Madcappe * in thefe fele£lions 
bear witnefs. Similarly^ his * Characters in 
Ejffays^ and his '■Good and Bad^ beyond 
all gainjaying^ guide us to Thomas Fuller* s 
model in his antithetic ' Thoughts ' in 

* Good and Bad Times, ^ I accufe neither 
of plagiarifm ; but none the lejs I wijh 
each had paid tribute to his infpirer. That 
he was a born finger y a genuine Maker ^ with 
imagination and tendernefs, his ' Lullaby ' 
alone Jhould atteft. It may ft and fide by 
fide with Robert Greene's — and that means 
rare excellence. And, after a 11^ is not the 
Robin-Red- Breaft that pipes as immortal as 
the eagle that foars P or^ unmetaphorically^ 
wbilft not at all affirming ^ great* genius 
or fupreme faculty in Breton^ is it not due 
to one fo gifted and fo modeft^fo inevitable 
and fo clear y to keep him in grateful re- 
membrance ? 



Only one other thing remains to be 
noticed in this our Introdu^ion^ viz.y that 
in the Works {as before) a conjiderable lift 
is made out of Shakefpearian phrafes and 
words that point to Shakefpeare^s knowledge 
of Breton^ s booklets. Perhaps the capable 
reader will not go unrewarded if he con- 
fult the fe pages {Works, vol. z., pp. li.-liv.). 
I accentuate this here becaufe I for one am 
willingly perfuaded that the ''W. 5.' of the 
commendatory lines before * Will of Wit * 
(1599) R/^r^ by Shakefpeare. They muft 
find a place : 

AD LECTOREM, DE AUTHORE. 
What ft: all I fay of Gold more than His 

Gold; 
Or call the diamond more than precious ; 
Or praife the man with praifes manifold^ 
When of himfelf himfelf is vertuous? 
Wit is beft ^n^yetfuch his Wit and^iWy 
As proves ill good, or makes good to be ill. 

Why ? what his Wit ? proceede and ajke 

his Will ; 
Why P what his Will ? reade on, and 

learne of Wit ; 
Both good, I geffe, yet each a fever al ill; 
This may feem ftrange to thofe that heare 

of it; 



Intro du^ion. 



Nay^ nere a zvMt, for vertue many zvaies 
Is made a vice^ yet Vertue hath her praife. 

Wherefore^ O Breton, worthie is thy zvorke 
Of commendations worthie to be worth ; 
Like captious wittes in everie corner lurke^ 
A bold attempt it is to fet them forth ^ 
A forme of Wit ^ and that offuch a sort 
As nere offends, for all is f aid in /port. 

Andfuch a [port as ferves for other kinds. 
Both young and old, for learning, armes and 

love ; 
For ladies* humors, mirth and mone he finds. 
With fome extreames their patient mindes 

to prove : 
Well, Breton, write on hard, thou haft the 

thing 
That, when it comes, love, wealth, and fame 

will bring. 

W. S, 

Everyojie knows that in an age when 
commendatory verfes were the mode Shake- 
fpeare neither fought nor gave fuch. The 
fnore remarkable, therefore, that thefe lines, 
with the play on Wit and Will and other 
bewray a Is of the '■fine Roman hand,^ lend 
themfelves to identification of the initials 



xvi Introdu5fion. 

W. S. with William Shakefpeare. The 
only avowed contributions to another's book, 
it may be added, are his poems given with Sir 
Robert Chejier's * Love's Martyr ' {our 
edition and the reproduBion in New Shake- 
fpeare Society). 

It muft be permitted me to clofe this our 
fmall Introduction with our dedicatory 
fonnet to Edmund W. GoJJe, Efq. : 

Rich-dowered friend, Worthy rich-dower^ d 
I bring 
To thee, in Breton ; and I have no fear 
Of chilly welcome, or praife infincere ; 
When thus I afk thee lifi him lowly fing: 
True as a wood-bird's is his carolling, 
And with its pathos too, ^mid branches 

fere : 
And a foft light of Hope, that fhineth 
clear. 
As when the fun gilds the lark's faring 

wing. 
Nor will it irk thee, now and then to look 
On old-world pictures of his warbled 
profe — 
Quaint talks in green lanes and by firefide 
nook : 
For thou art one, who 'mid all culture 
knows 



Introdu5lion. xvii 



' Tis well to linger in the great days 

olden 
When England'' s fpeech and aSl alike 

were golden. 

ALEXANDER B. GROSART. 



St. George's Vestry^ 
Blackburn. 



CONTENTS. 



Hymn of Adoration . 

Advice^ Wifely Quaint and Quaintly 

Wife . 
George Her berths * Temple * long 

anticipated 
Aglaia — a Pajloral 
Another Pajloral — Aglaia . 
Angler — 1597 
* A Little Brief Authority' . 
Beauty 

Caviare [l ^gj] 
Word-Portraits of Chara^ers 
Jefus Chrift 
Chrijlmas Carol 
Another Chrijlmas Song 
The City of God {De Civitate Dei) 

or Heavenly jerufalem . 
Elizabethan-Jacobean Clergy — 1603 
Country Folks — 1618 
Wife Counfels 



PAGE 

I 



H 
17 
22 
26 
26 

27 
38 
41 
43 

45 
51 
53 
55 



XX 


Contents, 






PAGE 




Country Players 


• 57 




Darwin -like Obfervation of ^ Littl 


e 




Creatures * 


• 57 




J Day in Merry England of th 






Olden Time . 


. 58 




Queen Elizabeth Living — 1603 


• 75 




Faith 


• 77 




A Pretty Fancy 


• 79 




Follies 


• 79 




Forks {with Knives)^ an Innovatioi 






and Luxury . 


. 82 




Wearers of the FooPs Cap . 


82 




Heaven v. Earth . 


84. 




Honour 


85 




Jn Odd Humour . 


87 




Inhofpitality 


87 




A Pathetic Letter by Breton 


91 




Love-Letters 


95 




What is Love? 


96 




Love 


lOI 




My Lady-Love 


102 




Lovers Yes and No . 


103 




Farewell to Love . 


105 




Love- Li It .... 


106 




Love— A J eft 


107 




Love Accurfed 


107 




A Lullaby .... 


108 




PafquiPs Meffage , 


III 



Contents, 


xxi 




PAGE 




Murmurers — Acceffion of James I 






(1607) 


113 




A Sweet Pajloral . 




115 




Phillts and Coridon . 




117 




Phillida and Coridon 




118 




Poets and Poor Writers 




119 




Proverbs and Wife Saws 




120 




The Quiet Life 




123 




Gird at the Puritans 




124 




Quips and Cranks . 




125 




The Ignoble Rich . 




128 




A Report Song in a Dream b etwee? 






a Shepherd and his Nymph 


132 




Re/pea Humble Rujlic Folks 


133 




Satire to be Shunned 


134 




Final Appeal to Donne, Hall, Mar f on 






and all 


137 




Satire Threatened if Needed 


138 




A Smile Mifconjirued 


141 




Quaint and Apt Sayings 


142 




Sententious Sayings . 


146 




Speech is Silvern, Silence Golden 


152 




Edmund Spenfer, 1599 


154 




A Jejling Story . 


156 




Shipwrecked Sailor^s Stor\ . 


158 




Summer . , " . 


162 




Chrijimas Day 


164 




Eajier Day 


165 





XXll 



Contents, 



Authors of High Tragedies 

Foreign and Home Travel 

An Ufurer 

A Beggar . 

A Waggery 

Watchfulnefs 

Yeoman : 1 6 1 8 — To a Courtier 



PAGE 
167 
168 

172 

175 




HTMN OF JDORATION. 

Some heavenly Mufe come help me fing 
In glory of my Heavenly King ; 
And from fom.e holy angel's wing 
Where graces do for feathers fpring, 
Oh, bring my hand one bleffed pen 
To write beyond the reach of men. 

Let all the fubjeft be of Grace, 
Where Mercy fet in Glory's place. 
Doth ftand below the fhining Face 
That makes all other beauty bafe ; 
That heaven and earth may fee the 

wonder 
That puts all works and wonders 
under. 

Let virtues only fet the grounds 
Where Grace but all of glory founds, 



A Bower' of 'Delights. 



While Mercy heals the Iplrit's wounds 
Where Faith the fear of Death con- 
founds ; 
That heaven and earth may joy to 

hear 
The mufic of the angel quier. =ckoir 

Oh, tell the world no world can tell 
How that joy doth all joys excel ; 
Where blelTed fouls fet free from hell 
In Mercy do with Glory dwell, 
And with the faints and angels fing 
In glory of their Heavenly King. 

Sink not a note beneath the fenfe 
Of Glory's higheft excellence ; 
And keep unto that only tenfe 
Where heavens have all their honour 
thence, 
That feraphim may clap their wings 
To hear how Grace of Glory fmgs. 

Oh, let the fun in brightnefs Ihine, 
And never let the moon decline ; 
And every ilar his light refine, 
Before that blefTed lightldivine. 

Of Whom, in Whom, from Whom 
alone. 

They have their fhining every one. 



A Bower of Delights. 



Let all the azure fky be clear, 
And not a mifty cloud come near ; 
But all that higheft light appear. 
Where angels make their merry cheer ; 
And all the troop of heavens may fee 
Where all the joys of heaven may be. 

Let Phoebus in his brightnefs ftay 
And drive the darkfome nights away ; 
And virgins, faints and angels play, 
While martyrs keep high holiday ; 
And all the hoft of heaven accord 
To fing in glory of the Lord. 

Let all the year be Summer's ring. 
And nightingales all birds that fing ; 
And all the fruits that grow or fpring 
Be brought unto their glorious King ; 
With all their colours and their fweets. 
Before His feet to ilrew the ftreets. 

Let honey-dews perfume the air, 
That all may be both fweet and fair ; 
That may with Mercy's leave repair 
Unto the feat of Glory's chair ; 

That everything may fitting fall 

Unto the glory of them all. 

Let all the hearts, the fouls, the minds, 
That Wifdom unto Virtue binds. 



B 2 



A Bower of Delights. 



And heeds but of thofe blefTed kinds. 
That gracious Love in Glory finds ; 

Agree together all in one, 

To glorify our God alone. 

And when they all in turn are fet 
And in their fweeteft mufic met, 
And higheft flcill the notes repet, = repeat 
Where grace may higheft glory get ; 
My ravifh'd foul in mercy then 
May have but leave to fmg Amen. 
{7 he Sours Harmony^ 1602.) 



r 



ADVICE, WISELY QUAINT 
AND QUAINTLT WISE. 

The Fool to be let alone. 

Know'ft thou a fool ? then let him leave 
his folly, 

Or be so ftill, and with his humour pafs: 

What hath thy wit to do with trolh 
lolly ? 

Muft every wife man ride upon an afs ? 

Take heed thou mak'ft not him a look- 
in g-gl afs 



A Bower of Delights. 



Wherein the world may too apparent 

fee, 
By blazing him, to find the fool in 

thee. = blazoning 

(No Whippinge.) 



So, too, the Villain.'^ 

Know you a villain ? let him find his 

match, 
And fhow not you a match to villain's 

Ikill; 
A foolilh dog at every cur doth fnatch ; 
Words have no grace in eloquence of 

ill; 
There is no wreftling with a wicked 
will : 
Let pafs the villain with his villainy ; 
Make thou thy match with better 
company. 

[No Whippinge.) 

* Hit probably at Marston's 'Scourge of 
Villainy.' 



r 



A Bower of Delights. 



Gentlenefs to the Fallen — a Quean. 

Have you acquaintance with fome 

wicked quean ? 
Give her good words, and do not blaze 

her faults ; 
Look in thy foul if it be not unclean, 
And know that Satan all the world 

affaults : 
Jacob himfelf before the angel halts : 
Sigh for her fin, but do not call her 

whore ; 
But learn of Chrift to bid her fin no 

more. {No W kipping e.) 

r 

So with the Drunkard. 

Know you a drunkard ? loathe his 
drunkennefs, 

But do not lay it open to his foes ; 

Left, over-rating his ungodlinefs. 

You take yourfelf too foundly by the 
nofe ; 

Who hurts himfelf doth give unkindly 
blows : 
Wink at each fault and wiih it was 

amended, 
And think it well that's with repent- 
ance ended. {No Whippinge.) 



A Bower of 'Delights, 



Even the Mifer to be pitied. 

Know you a mifer ? let him be fo flill. 
And let his fpirit with his metal melt ; 
Let him alone to die in his own ill, 
And feed not you on that which he 

hath felt : 
Be not you girded in fo vile a belt : 
Rather pray for him, than fo rail 

upon him. 
That all the world may lay their 
curfes on him. 

{1^0 Whippinge,) 



r 



The ^ great one.^ 

If that a great one have a great defeft. 
Let not your thought once touch at fuch 

a thing ; 
Unto fuperiors ever have refpeft ; 
A beggar muft not look upon a king : 
*Take heed,' I fay, is a moll blelFed 
thing ; 
Left if you run too far in fuch a fit, 
A fool may hap to hang for lack of 
wit. 

{No Whippinge^ 



A Bower of 'Delights. 



Proverbs, 

Learn Englifh Proverbs, have them well 

by heart. 
And count them often on your fingers' 

ends ; 
Do not your fecrets to the world impart; 
Beware your foes, do not abufe your 

friends ; 
Take heed of flatterers as of hellifli 
fiends : 
Eat up your meat and make clean all 

your platters, 
And meddle not with any prince's 
matters. 

{No W hipping e.) 



GEORGE HERBERTS' TEMPLE' 
LONG ANTICIPATED."^ 

Life and Conduct. 

Read what is written on the painted 

cloth ; 
Do no man wrong, be good unto the 

poor ; 

* See our Introduction. 



A Bower of 'Delights. 



Beware the Moufe, the Maggot and the 

Moth ; 
And ever have an eye unto the door : 
Truft not a fool, a villain, nor a whore : 
Go neat, not gay, and fpend but as 

you fpare ; 
And turn the colt to pafture with the 
mare. 

Be not a churl nor yet exceed in cheer ; 
Hold fall thine own, pay truly what 

thou oweft ; 
Sell not too cheap and do not buy too 

dear : 
Tell but to few what fecret e'er thou 

knoweft. 
And take good heed to whom, and what 

thou sheweft : 
Love God, thyfelf, thy wife, thy 

children, friend ; 
Neighbour and fervant — and fo make 

an end. 

Believe no news till they be nine days 

old, 
Nor then too much, although the print 

approve them ; 
Miftake not drofs for perfeft Indian gold; 



lo A Bower of Delights. 

Nor make friends gods ; but as you find 

them, love, 
And as you know them, keep them or 
remove : 
Beware of beauty and afFeft no flut ; 
And 'ware the worm before ye crack 
the nut. 

Be neither proud, nor envious, nor un- 

chafte, 
Left all too late, repentance overtake 

you ; 
And take good heed how you your 

wealth do wafte, 
Left fools do feoff you and your friends 

forfake ; 
And then the beggar by the fhoulders 

fhake you : 
Give unto all that afk ; nor afkers, all; 
And take heed how you climb, for 

fear you fall. 

Do well, be true, backbite no man, be 

juft; 
The Duck, the Drake, the Owl do 

teach you fo ; 
Speak what you think, but no more 

than you muft. 
Left unawares you make your friend 

your foe : 



A Bower of 'Delights, 



Be wary, fays the Crane, be wife, the 
Crow : 
Be gentle, humble, courteous, meek 

and mild ; 
And you fhall be your mother's bleffed 
child. . . . 

Have all the week a pen behind your ear, 
And wear your fword on Sundays, 'tis 

enough ; 

Be not too venturous nor too full of fear, 

Nor ftand too much upon a double ruff; 

For fear a falling-band give you the 

cuff. 

Know well your horfe before you 

fall to ride. 
And bid God blefs the bridegroom 
and the bride. 

{No Whippinge.) 



AGLAIA—A PASTORAL, 

Sylvan Mufes, can ye ling 
Of the beauty of the Spring ? 
Have ye feen on earth that fun 
That a heavenly courfe hath run .? 
Have ye liv'd to fee thofe eyes 
Where the pride of beauty lies ? 



12 A Bower of Delights. 

Have ye heard that heavenly voice 

That may make Love's heart rejoice ? 

Have ye feen Aglaia, fhe 

Whom the world may joy to fee ? 

If ye have not feen all thefe, 

Then ye do but labour leese ; = loje 

While ye tune your pipes to play 

But an idle roundelay ; 

And in fad Difcomfort's den 

Everyone go bite her pen ; 

That fhe cannot reach the fkill 

How to climb that blelTed hill, 

Where Aglaia's fancies dwell, 

Where exceedings do excell. 

And in fimple truth confefs 

She is that fair fhepherdefs 

To whom faireft flocks a-field 

Do their fervice duly yield : 

On whom never Mufe hath gazed 

But in mufing is amazed ; 

Where the honour is too much 

For their higheft thoughts to touch ; 

Thus confefs, and get ye gone 

To your places every one ; 

And in filence only fpeak 

When ye find your fpeech too weak. 

Bleffed be Aglaia yet, 

Though the Mufes die for it ; 

Come abroad, ye bleflTed Mufes, 



A Bower of Delights. 



Ye that Pallas chiefly choofes, 
When fhe would command a creature 
In the honour of Love's nature. 
For the fweet Aglaia fair 
All to fweeten all the air. 
Is abroad this blefl'ed day ; 
Hafte ye, therefore, come away : 
And to kill Love's maladies 
Meet her with your melodies. 

Flora hath been all about, 
And hath brought her wardrobe out ; 
With her faireft, sweetefl flowers, 
All to trim up all your bowers. 

Bid the fliepherds and their fwains 
See the beauty of their plains ; 
And command them with their flocks 
To do reverence on the rocks ; 
Where they may fo happy be 
As her fhadow but to fee : 
Bid the birds in every bufli, 
Not a bird to be at hufn : 
But to fit, and chirp and fing 
To the beauty of the Spring : 
Call the fylvan nymphs together. 
Bid them bring their muflcs hither : 
Trees their barky filence break, 
Crack yet, though they cannot fpeak. 
Bid the pureft, whiteft fwan 
Of her feathers make her fan ; 



14 A Bower of Delights. 

Let the hound the hare go chafe ; 

Lambs and rabbits run at bafe ; 

Flies be dancing in the fun, 

While the filk-worm's webs are fpun ; 

Hang a fifh on every hook 

As Ihe goes along the brook ; 

So with all your fweeteft powers 

Entertain her in your bowers ; 

Where her ear may joy to hear 

How ye make your fweeteft quire ; 

And in all your fweeteft vein, 

Still Aglaia ftrike her ftrain ; 

But when fhe her walk doth turn, 

Then begin as faft to mourn ; 

All your flowers and garlands wither, 

Put up all your pipes together ; 

Never ftrike a pleafmg ftrain 

Till flie come abroad again. 

(^The PaJJionate Shepheard.) 



ANOTHER PASTORAL— 
AGLAIA. 

Who can live in heart fo glad 

As the merry country lad ? 

Who upon a fair green baulk =bank 

May at pleafure fit and walk ? 



A Bower of Delights. 1 5 

And amid the azure fkies 

See the morning fun arife ! 

While he hears in every fpring =fount 

How the birds do chirp and fing ; 

Or before the hounds in cry 

See the hares go flealing by ; 

Or along the ftiallow brook 

Angling with a baited hook, 

See the fifhes leap and play 

In a blelTed funny day ; 

Or to hear the partridge call 

Till Ihe have her covey all ; 

Or to fee the fubtle fox. 

How the villain plies the box : 

After feeding on his prey 

How he clofely fneaks away, 

Through the hedge and down the 

furrow, 
Till he gets into his burrow ; 
Then the bee to gather honey ; 
And the little black-hair'd coney 
On a bank for funny place 
With her fore-feet walh her face : 
Are not thefe worth thoufands moe = 

more 
Than the courts of kings do know ? 
The true pleafing fpirits' rights 
That may breed true Love's delights ; 
But with all thy happinefs 



c 2 



1 6 A Bower of 'Delights. 

To behold that fhepherdefs 

To whofe eyes all fhepherds yield 

All the faireft of the field : 

Fair Aglaia, in whofe face 

Lives the fhepherds' higheft grace ; 

In whofe worthy wonder's praife 

See what her true Ihepherd fays : 

She is neither proud nor fine. 

But in fpirit moft divine ; 

She can neither lour nor leer. 

But a fweeting, frailing cheer ; 

She had never painted face. 

But a fweeter, fmiling grace ; 

She can never love diffemble, 

Truth doth fo her thoughts affemble, 

That when wifdom guides her will 

She is kind and conftant flill ; 

All in fum, fhe is this creature 

Of that trueft comfort's nature 

That doth fhew (but in exceedings) 

How their praifes had their breedings ; 

Let then poets fain their pleafure, 

In their fiflions of Love's treafure ; 

Proud high fpirits feek their graces 

In their ideal painted faces ; 

Thy love's fpirits' lowlinefs 

In affeftion's humblenefs ; 

Under heav'n no happinefs 

Seeks, but in this Shepherdefs. 



A Bower of Delights. 



For whofe fake I fay and fwear 
By the pafTions that I bear, 
Had I got a kingly grace, 
I would, leave my kingly place, 
And in heart be truly glad 
To become a country lad ; 
Hard to lie and go full bare, 
And to feed on hungry fare ; 
So I might but live to be, 
Where I might but fit to fee 
Once a day, or all day long. 
The fweet fubjeft of my fong ; 
In Aglaia's only eyes 
All my worldly Paradife. 

{The Fajfionate Shepheard.) 

ANGLER— IS97. 

Among the walks of the weary, where 
liberty and air are the beft comforts of 
the forlorn fpirits of the world, it was 
the hap of a poor Scholar (who, feeding 
his imagination with the perfuafions of 
contemplation, making his palTage down 
a falling piece of ground fomewhat near 
unto a little hill, fall by a river fide, 
whofe ftreams feemed to Aide along the 



A Bower of Delights. 



banks of a lower platform) to efpy a 
human creature Handing upright and 
holding out his arm over the water ; 
whom approaching unto fomewhat near 
and finding to be an Angler, he faluted 
in this manner : True figure of Patience, 
no offence to your conceit, how might 
it fare with your cold exercife ? The 
fifherman (as it might appear by his 
anfwer) being better trained in the 
variety of underftanding than could be 
contained within the compafs of a caft- 
ing-net, upon the fudden made him this 
reply : 

Shadow of intelligence 

To ftay your further eloquence, 

when fools gape for flies, mad men may 
go a-fifliing. Oh, Sir (quoth the 
Scholar), I pray you enter not into 
choler with them that meant not to 
trouble your better humour ; but rather 
do me the favour to inftrudl me in the 
reafon that might lead you into this 
loathing labour, than to take me up for 
halting as I come at my journey's end. 
I promife you I was half afraid that 
Ovid's tales would have fallen out true, 
and that Narciflus, or fome of his 



A Bower of 'Delights. 



kindred, had been fo in love with their 
own fhadow that he could not go from 
the river fide ; but coming near and 
finding the deceit of my imagination, 
confeiTmg my folly, I am to crave your 
kindnefs in a little conference touching 
the profit of this cold pleafure and what 
may be the fifli that you angle for with 
a fly. Sir, quoth the fifherman, to turn 
wit into choler is fuch a piece of 
alchemy as I never found written in the 
.true rules of philofophy ; and to tell 
1 truth, as I remember when I went to 
the fchool of underflanding, I found this 
la fentence of difcretion. It is but a 
j trifling of wit to be troubling of 
i humours ; but flnce you crave a favour- 
able inftruftion in a matter of fmall 
importance, being perfuaded that your 
hafte is not great nor affairs weighty, if 
you will flt down and bear me company, 
we will feed the air with a little breath. 
My good friend, quoth the Scholar, (for 
fo I be glad to find you), to confefs a 
truth, neither is my hafl:e fuch but I 
may flay well if not too long to your 
liking ; neither my affairs of fuch im- 
port but that I may put them off for a 
time, to enjoy the benefit of your good 



20 A Bower of Delights. 



company. Then, Sir, quoth the fiflier-' 
man, let me tell you I fit here, as you i 
fee, angling for a fifh, and my bait a 
fly : for little filhes, as bleaks [ = blay, 
fmall water fijh, roaches\ and fuch like, 
a fly will ferve the turn ; but for greater 
fiflies, we muft find out greater baits ; 
and with thefe flies we catch fuch fmall 
fifli as ferve to bait our hooks for greater 
fiflies. Now if you can apply this 
figure to a good fenfe, I will hold you 
for a good fcholar in ciphering. 

{Wit's Trendmour*) 



^rt in Fijhing. 

Some fiflies there are that keep alto- 
gether in the deep, and they we muft 
angle for with a worm : now to this 

* Curiously enough, of the superabundant 
annotators of Izaac Walton, none seems to 
have known this brilliant little piscatory book 
of Breton. The late Mr. J. Payne Collier 
warned his readers that the 'angler' was not a 
' fisher '—proving that, as too frequently, he 
had not seen the actual book, or at least not read 
it. The following is its (abridged) title page : 
*Wits Trenchmour in a Conference had be- 
twixt a SchoUer and an Angler 1597.' 



A Bower of Delights. 



worm we mull have a line of hair as near 
as we can of fuch a colour as may bell 
pleafe the eye of the filh to play with. 
Now to the line we mull have a 
plummet, which mull guide the bait to 
the bottom, which drawing now and 
then up and down, at length fo pleafeth 
the filh, as venturing upon the bait 
anfwers the hope of our labour. Now 
what think you of this figure? Truly, 
Sir, quoth the Scholar, I think that 
when wit is led away with humours 
reafon may be entangled in repentance, 
and the pleafing of the eye is fuch a 
plague to the heart that the worm of 
confcience brings ignorance to dellruc- 
tion, while in the Sea of Iniquity, the 
devil angleth for his defires. 

{Ibid.) 



The Trout, 

The Filherman, fmiling at this anfwer, 
fell to him with another piece of angling 
in this manner. We have, quoth he, a 
kind of fly made only of filk, which we 
make our bait for a filh called a Trout ; 
with which we often deceive the foolilh 



22 A Bower of Delights. 



thing as well as with the fly itfelf. 
Alas, Sir ! quoth the Scholar, this fhows ;| 
but the vile courfe of the world, where j 
wit, finding out a fool, feeds his fancy ' 
with fuch illulions as makes him fome- 
times lofe himfelf with looking after a 
Ihadow : as words are without fubftance 
when they are laid for eafy believers. 

{Ibid,) 

' i 

'J LITTLE BRIEF AUTHORITT: ' 

Let but a fellow in a fox-furr'd gown, 
A greafy night-cap and a drivel'd 
beard, 
Grow but the bailiff of a fifher-town, 
And have a matter 'fore him to be 

heard ; 
Will not his frown make half a ftreet 
afear'd ? 
Yea, and the greateft cod's-head 

gape for fear, 
He fhall be fwallow'd by this ugly 
bear. 

Look but on beggars going to the flocks. 
How Mafler conftable can march 
before them ; 



A Bower of Delights. 

Lnd while the beadle maketh fall the 
locks, 
How bravely he can knave them and 

bewhore them, 
And not afford one word of pity for 
them : 
When it may be poor honeft fiUy 

people 
Mull make the church make curtfey 
to the fteeple. 

<ote but the beadle of a beggars' 
'Spittle, =hofpital 

How (in his place) he can himfelf 
advance ; 
\nd will not of his title lofe a tittle, 
If any matter come in variance 
To try the credit of his countenance : 
For whatfoever the poor beggars fay, 
His is the word muft carry all away. 

Why, let a beggar but on cockhorfe fit, 
Will he not ride like an ill-favour'd 
king ? 
And will it not amaze a poor man's wit 
That cuckoos teach the nightingale to 

fmg? 
Oh, this fame Wealth is fuch a wicked 
thing, 



24 ! A Bower of 'Delights. 



'Twill teach an owl in time to fpeak 

true Latin, 
And make a friar forfwear our 

Lady's matin. 

{PafquWs Madcappe.) 

r 

Other Word-etchings of Same. 

Take but a peafant newly from the cart, 
That only lives by puddings, beans, 
and peafe ; 
Who never learned any other art 

But how to drive his cattle to the leas, 

And after work, to reft and take his 

eafe ; 

Yet put this afs into a golden hide 

He Ihall be groom unto a handfome 

bride. 

Take but a rafcal with a roguilh pate, 
Who can but only keep a Counting- 
book ; 
Yet if his reck'ning grow to fuch a rate, 
That he can angle for the golden 

hook ; 
However fo the mattef be miftook, 
If he can clearly cover his deceit. 
He may be held a man of deep 
conceit. 



A Bower of Delights. 



Find out a villain, born and bred a knave, 
That never knew where honefty 
became ; 
A drunken rafcal and a dogged flave. 
That all his wits to wickednefs doth 

frame. 
And only lives in infamy and fhame ; 
Yet let him tink upon the golden 

pan. 
His word may pafs yet for an honed 
man. 

Why, take a Fiddler but with half an 
eye, 
Who never knew if ela were a note ; 
And can but play a round as hey-do-gey 
And that perhaps he only hath by rote ; 
Which now and then may hap to get a 
groat : 
Yet if his Crowde he fet with filver 

lluds 
The other minrtrels may go chew 
their cuds. 

{PafquiPs Madcappe.) 



26 A Bower of 'Delights. 



BEAUTT. 

Pretty twinkling ftarry eyes, 
How did Nature firft devife 
Such a fparkling in your fight 
As to give Love fuch delight, 
As to make him, like a fly. 
Play with looks until he die ? 

Sure ye were not made at firft 
For fuch mifchief to be curft ; 
As to kill AfFeftion's care 
That doth only truth declare ; 
Where Worth's wonders never wither, 
Love and Beauty live together. 

Bleffed eyes, then give your blefling. 
That in paffion's beft expreffrng ; 
Love that only lives to grace ye, 
May not fufFer pride deface ye ; 
But in gentle thought's direftions 
Show the power of your perfe6lions. 
{Pajfionate Shepheard.) 

r 

CAVIARE [1597]. 

Another of the * fine difhes' . . . . 
a great lady fent .... was a little 
barrel of caviar^ ; which was no fooner 



A Bower of Delights. 27 



opened and tailed, but quickly made up 
again, and was fent back with this mef- 
fage : ^ Commend me to my good lady, 
and thank her honour, and tell her we 
have black foap enough already ; but if 
it be any better thing, I beieech her 
ladyihip to beftow it upon a better 
friend that can better tell how to ufe 
it.' Now, if fuch be your fine dilhes, 
I pray you let me alone with my country 
fare. 

{The Courtier and the Countrymen.) 
[Explains Shakefpeare's ' caviare to 
the general,' 'Hamlet,' iv., fc. 2.] 



W'ORD-PORTRAITS OF CHAR- 
ACTERS. 

A Worthy Lawyer. 

A worthy Lawyer is the ftudent of 
knowledge, how to bring controverfies 
into a conclufion of peace and out of 
ignorance to gain underftanding. He 
divides time into ufes and cafes into 
conftruftions. He lays open obfcurities, 
and is praifed for the fpeech of truth, 
and in the court of Confcience pleads 

D 2 



A Bower of 'Delights. 



much in forma pauperis^ for fmall fees. 
He is a mean for the prefervation of 
titles and the holding of poffefTions, and 
a great inftrument of peace in the judg- 
ment of Impartiality. He is the client's 
hope, in his cafe's pleading, and his 
heart's comfort in a happy ilTue. He is 
the finder out of tricks in the craft of 
ill confcience and the joy of the dif- 
treffed in the relief of juftice. In fum, 
he is a maker of peace among the fpirits 
of contention and a continuer of quiet 
in the execution of the law. 

{Good and Bad.) 

An Unworthy Lawyer. 

An unlearned and unworthily called 
a Lawyer, is the figure of a foot-poft, 
who carries letters, but knows not what 
is in them, only can read the fuper- 
fcriptions to direft them to their right 
owners. So trudgeth this fimple clerk, 
that can fcarce read a cafe when it is 
written, with his handfull of papers, 
from one Court to another and from 
one Counfellor's chamber to another, 
when by his good payment for his patns. 



A Bower of 'Delights. 



he will be fo faucy as to call himfelf a 
Solicitor. But what a taking are poor 
clients in when this too-much-trulled 
cunning companion, better read in 
* Pierce Ploughman' than in ^Ployden' 
and in the Play of ' Richard the Third ' 
than in the Pleas of Edward the Fourth, 
perfuades them all is fure when he is 
fure of all ! and in what a mifery are 
the poor men when upon a nihil die it, 
becaufe, indeed, this poor fellow nihil 
poteji dicere, they are in danger of an 
execution before they know wherefore 
they are condemned ! But I wifh all 
fuch more wicked than witty unlearned 
in the Law and abufers of the fame, to 
look a little better into their confciences 
and to leave their crafty courfes, left 
when the Law indeed lays them open, 
inftead of carrying papers in their hands 
they wear not papers on their heads, 
and inftead of giving ear to their clients' 
caufes, or rather eyes into their purfes, 
they have ne'er an ear left to hear 
withal, nor good eye to fee withal ; or 
at leaft honeft face to look out withal ; 
but as the grafflioppers of Egypt, be 
counted the caterpillars of England, and 
not the fox that ftole the goofe, but the 



30 A Bower of Delights. 

great fox that ftole the farm from the 
gander. 

{Good and Bad.) 



An Honejl Man, 

An honeft man is like a plain coat, 
which without welt \^=fold'\ or guard, 
keepeth the body from wind and 
weather, and being well made fits him 
beft that wears it ; and where the fluff 
is more regarded than the fafhion, there 
is not much ado in the putting of it on. 
So, the mind of an honeft man, without 
trick or compliments, keeps the credit 
of a good confcience from the fcandal 
of the World and the worm of Iniquity ; 
which being wrought by the Workman 
of Heaven, fits him beft that wears it 
to His fervice ; and where Virtue is 
more efteemed than Vanity, it is put on 
and worn with that eafe that fliows the 
excellency of the Workman. His ftudy 
is virtue, his word truth, his life the 
pafTage of patience, and his death the 
reft of the fpirit. His travel is a 
p'/grimage, his way is plainnefs, his 
pleafure peace, and his delight is love. 



A Bower of Delights. 



His care is his confcience, his wealth 
is his credit, his charge is his charity, 
and his content is his kingdom. In 
fum, he is a diamond among jewels, a 
phoenix among lords, an unicorn among 
beafts, and a faint among men. 

{Good and Bad.) 



A Worthy Phyftcian. 

A worthy phyfician is the enemy of 
ficknefs, in purging nature from cor- 
ruption. His action is moll in feeling 
of pulfes and his difcourfe chiefly of 
the nature of difeafes. He is a great 
fearcher out of iimples, and accordingly 
makes his compofition. He perfuades 
to abftinence and patience for the benefit 
of health, while purging and bleeding 
are the chief courfes of his counfel. 
The Apothecary and the Chirurgeon 
are his two chief attendants, with whom 
conferring upon time, he grows tem- 
perate in his cures. Surfeits and wan- 
tonnefs are great agents for his employ- 
ment, when, by the fecret of his fkill 
out of others' weaknefs he gathers his 
own ftrength. In fum, he is a necefTary 



32 A Bower of Delights. 

member for an unneceflary malady, to 
find a difeafe and to cure the difeafed. 
{Good and Bad.) 



An Unworthy Phyjtcian. 

An unlearned and fo unworthy Phyfi- 
cian is a kind of horfe-leech, whofe cure 
is moft in drawing of blood and a def- 
perate purge, either to cure or to kill as 
it hits. His difcourfe is moft of the 
cures that he hath done, and them afar 
off; and not a recipe under a hundred 
pounds, though it be not worth three 
half-pence. Upon the market-day he is 
much haunted with urinals ; where, if 
he find anything (though he know 
nothing), yet he will fay fomewhat ; 
which, if it hit to fome purpofe, with a 
few fuftian words he will feem a piece 
of ftrange fluff. He is never without 
old merry tales and ftale jefts to make 
old folks laugh, and comfits and plums 
in his pocket to pleafe little children ; 
yea, and he will be talking of com- 
plexions, though he know nothing of 
their difpofitions ; and if his medicine 
do a feat, he is a made man among 



A Bower of Delights. 



fools. But, being wholly unlearned and 
ofttimes unhoneft, let me thus briefly 
defcribe him. He is a plain kind of 
mountebank and a true quack-raker ; 
a danger for the fick to deale withal 
and a dizard [^=fool^ light -headed\ in 
the world to talk withal. 

{Good and Bad.) 



A Worthy Merchant, 

A worthy merchant is the heir of 
adventure, whofe hopes hang much 
upon wind. Upon a wooden horfe he 
rides through the world, and in a 
merry gale makes a path through the 
feas. He is a difcoverer of countries 
and a finder out of commodities, refo- 
lute in his attempts and royal in his 
expenfes. He is the life of traffic and 
the maintainer of trade, the failor's 
mailer and the foldier's friend. He is 
the exercife of the Exchange, the 
honour of Credit, the obfervation of 
Time, and the underftanding of Thrift. 
His ftudy is Number, his care his 
accounts, his comfort his confcience. 



A Bower of Delights. 



and his wealth his good name. He 
fears not Scylla and fails clofe by 
Charybdis, and having beaten out a 
ftorm, rides at reft in a harbour. By 
his fea-gain he makes his land-pur- 
chafe, and by the knowledge of trade 
finds the key of his treafure. Out of 
his travels he makes his difcourfes, and 
from his eye-obfervations brings the 
models of architedures. He plants the 
earth v/ith foreign fruits, and knows at 
home what is good abroad. He is neat 
in apparel, modeft in demeanour, dainty 
in diet and civil in his carriage. In 
fum, he is the pillar of a city, the 
enricher of a country, the furnifher of 
a Court, and the worthy fervant of a 



King. 



[Good and Bad.) 



r 



A Coward. 

A coward is the child of Fear. He 
was begotten in cold blood, when 
Nature had much ado to make up a 
creature like a man. His life is a kind 
of ficknefs, which breeds a kind of palfy 
in the joints, and his death the terror of 



A Bower of Delights. 



his confcience with the extreme weak- 
nefs of his faith. He loves peace as his 
life, for he fears a fword in his foul. If 
he cut his finger he looketh prefently 
for the fign, and if his head ache he is 
ready to make his will. A report of a 
cannon ftrikes him flat on his face, and 
a clap of thunder makes him a ftrange 
nietamorphofis. Rather than he will fight 
he will be beaten, and if his legs 
will help him he will put his arms to no 
trouble. He makes love commonly 
with his purfe, and brags moft of his 
maiden-head. He will not marry but 
into a quiet family, and not too fair a 
wife, to avoid quarrels. If his wife 
frown upon him he fighs, and if fhe give 
him an unkind word he weeps. He loves 
not the horns of a bull, nor the paws of 
a bear ; and if a dog bark he will not 
come near the houfe. If he be rich he 
is afraid of thieves, and if he be poor he 
will be flave to a beggar. In fum, he 
is the fliame of manhood, the difgrace 
of Nature, the fcorn of reafon, and the 
hate of honour. 

{Good and Bad.) 



r 



36 A Bower of Delights. 

A Drunkard. 

A Drunkard is a noun adjeftive ; for 
he cannot iland alone by himfelf ; yet 
in his greateft weaknefs a great trier of 
ftrength, whether health or ficknefs will 
have the upper hand in a furfeit. He 
is a fpectacle of deformity, and a Ihame 
of Humanity ; a view of Sin and a grief 
of Nature. He is the annoyance of 
Modefty and the trouble of Civility, 
the fpoil of Wealth and the fpite of 
Reafon. He is only the Brewer's agent 
and the ale-houfe benefaftor ; the 
beggar's companion and the conflable's 
trouble. He is his wife's woe, his 
children's forrow, his neighbour's feoff, 
and his own fhame. In fum, he is a. 
tub of fwill, a fpirit of fleep, a pifture 
of a beaft, and a monfter of a man. 

{Good and Bad) 

An Untrained Soldier. 

An untrained Soldier is like a young 
hound, that when he firfl: falls to hunt 
he knows not how to lay his nofe to the 
earth ; who having his name put in a 



A Bower of Delights. 



book, and marched twice_about a market- 
place, when he comes to a piece of 
fervice knows not how to beftow him- 
felf. He marches as if he were at 
plough, carries his pike like a pikeftafF, 
and his fword before him for fear of 
lofing from his fide. If he be a fhot, he 
will be rather ready to fay a grace over 
his piece, and fo to difcharge his hands 
of it, than to learn how to difcharge it 
with a grace. He puts on his armour 
over his ears like a waiftcoat, and wears 
his murrian [ = morion or kelmef\ like 
a nightcap. When he is quartered in 
the field he looks for his bed, and when 
he fees his provant [= provijions'] he is 
ready to cry for his viftuals ; and ere he 
know well where he is, wifhes heartily 
he were at home again, with hanging 
down his head as if his heart were in his 
hofe. He will fleep till a drum or a 
deadly bullet awake him ; and fo carry 
himfelf in all companies, that till martial 
difcipline have feafoned his underfland- 
ing, he is like a cipher among figures, 
an owl among birds, a wife man among 
fools, and a fhadow among men. 

{Good and Bad.) 



38 A Bower of Delights. 



JESUS CHRIST. 

He came from high to live with me 
below ; 

He gave me life and fhewed me 
greatell love ; 

Unworthy I fo high a worth to know 

Who left chief blifs a bafer choice to 
prove ; 
I faw His wounds, yet did I not be- 
lieve Him, 
And for His goodnefs with my fins did 
grieve Him. 

I faw Him faultlefs, yet I did offend 

Him ; 
I faw Him wrong'd, yet did not excufe 

Him ; 
I faw His foes, yet fought not to defend 

Him ; 
I had His bleiTmgs, yet I did abufe Him. 
But was it mine, or my forefather's 

deed ? 
Whofe'er it was, it makes my heart to 

bleed. 

To fee the feet that travelled for our 

good ; 
To fee the hands that brake the lively 

bread ; = living 



A Bower of 'Delights. 



To fee the head, whereon our honour 

flood ; 
To fee the fruit, whereon our fpirits 
fed; 
Feet pierc'd, hands bor'd, and His 

head all bleeding ; 
Who doth not die with fuch a forrow 
reading ? 

He plac'd all reft, yet had no refting- 

place ; 
He heal'd each pain, yet liv'd in fore 

diftrefs ; 
Deferv'd all good, yet driven to great 

difgrace ; 
Gave all hearts joy, Himfelf in heavi- 

nefs ; 
Suffer'd them live, by whom Himfelf 

was flain ; 
Lord, who can live to fee fuch love 

again ? 

A Virgin's child by Virtue's power 

conceiv'd ; 
A harralefs man that lived for all men's 

good; 
A faithful friend that never faith 

deceiv'd ; 
An heavenly fruit for heart's efpecial 

food ; 

E 2 



40 A Bower of Delights. 

A fpirit all of excellence divine ; 
Such is the effence of this love of 
mine. 

Whose manfion's heaven, yet lay within 
a manger ; 

Who gave all food, yet fuck'd a virgin's 
breaft ; 

Who could have icill'd, yet fled a 
threaten'd danger ; 

Who fought our quiet by His own 
unreft ; 
Who died for them that highly did 

offend Him ; 
And lives for them that cannot com- 
prehend Him. 

Who came no further than His Father 

fent Him, 
And.did fulfil but what He did command 

Him ; 
Who pray'd for them that proudly did 

torment Him, 
For telling truth to what they did 
demand Him ; 
Who did all good that humbly did 

entreat Him, 
And bear their blows that did un- 
kindly beat Him. 
[The Countejfe of Penbrook^s [^Pem- 
broke* s\ Pajjion.) 



A Bower of 'Delights, 



Only Chrijl. 

Thus would- I fpend in fervice of my 
God, 
The ling'ring hours of thefe few days 
of mine, 
To fhow how fin and death are over- 
trod, 
But by the virtue of the Power 
divine ; 
Our thoughts but vain, our fubftance 

flime and duft, 
And only Chrift for our Eternal 
Truft. 

(/ would and I would not.) 

CHRISTMAS CAROL. 

A gentleman being on Chriftmas Eve 
in a very folitary place, among very 
folemn company, where was but fmall 
cheer, lefs mirth, and leaft mufic, being 
very earneftly entreated to fmg a 
Chriftmas Carol, with much ado fang as 
followeth : 

Now Chriftmas draweth near, and moft 
men make good cheer. 
With heigh-ho, care away ! 



42 A Bower of Delights. 

I, like a Hckly mome, in drowfy dumps 
at home, 
Will naught but faft and pray. 

Some fing and dance for life, fome card 
and dice as rife, 
Some ufe old Chriftmas games ; 
But I, oh wretched wight ! in dole both 
day and night 
Mull dwell ; the world fo frames. 

In Court what pretty toys, what fine and 
pleafant joys, 
To pafs the time away ! 
In country naught but care ; four 
cheefe-curds chiefeft fare ; 
For wine a bowl of whey. 

For every dainty dilh, of flefh or elfe of 
fifh, 
And for your drink in Court, 
A dilh of young fried frogs, fod houghs of 
mezled hogs, =meazledj diseased 
A cup of fmall-tap wort. 

And for each courtly fight, each fhow 
that may delight 
The eye or elfe the mind ; 
In country thorns and brakes, and many 
miry lakes. 
Is all the good you find. 



A Bower of Delights. 



And for fine enterics, halls, chambers, 
galleries, 
And lodgings many moe ; 
Here defert woods and plains, where no 
delight remains. 
To walk in to and fro. 

In Court, for to be fhort, for every 
pretty fport 
That may the heart delight ; 
In country many a grief, and fmall or 
no relief, 
To aid the wounded wight. 

And in this defert place, I, wretch ! in 
woful cafe, 
This merry Chriftmas time. 
Content myfelf perforce to reft my 
careful corfe, 
And so I end my rime. 

{JlFlGurish upon Fancy, 1577.) 

JNOTHER CHRISTMAS SONG. 

In the latter end of Chriftmas the 
fame gentleman was likewife defired to 
fing ; and, although againft his will, was 
content to fmg as followeth : 



44 ^ Bower of Delights. 

The Chriftmas now is paft, and I have 
kept my fall, 
With prayer every day ; 
And, like a country clown, with nod- 
ding up and down. 
Have pafled the time away. 

As for old Chriftmas games, or dancing 
with fine dames. 
Or fhows, or pretty plays ; 
A folemn oath I fwear, I came not 
where they were, 
Not all thefe holy-days. 

I did not fing one note, except it were 
by rote, 
Still buzzing like a bee ; 
To eafe my heavy heart of fome though 
little fmart, 
For want of other glee. 

And as for pleafant wine, there was no 
drink fo fine. 
For to be tafted here ; 
Full fimple was my fare, if that I ihould 
compare. 
The fame to Chriftmas cheer. 

I faw no kind of fight that might my 
mind delight. 
Believe me, noble dame ; 



A Bower of Delights. 



But everything I faw did fret at woe 
my maw, 
To think upon the fame. 

Upon fome bufhy balk full fain I was 
to walk. 
In woods, from tree to tree, 
For want of better room ; but fince my 
fatal doom 
Hath fo appointed me ; 

I ftood therewith content, the Chrift- 
mas full was fpent. 
In hope that God will fend 
A better yet next year, my heavy heart 
to cheer ; 
And fo I make an end. 

{Ibid,) 

r 

THE CITY OF GOD (DE CIFI- 
TATE DEI) OR HEAVENLY 
JERUSALEM. 

And on they walk, until anon they came 
Unto a Church, — not built of lime or 
ftone. 
But that true Church of that immortal 
fame 
That is world's wonder, and heaven's 
love alone : 



46 A Bower of Delights. 

Whofe head is Chrift, whofe martyrs are 

His pillars. 
And all whofe members are His Word's 

well-willers. 



The gate is Grace, Contrition is the 
key ; ^ 
The lock is Love, the porter Peni- 
tence ; 

Where humble Faith muft heavenly 
favour ftay 
Till Pity talk with Virtue's patience : 

While angels' fighs the linner's way 
devife. 

To have his entrance into Paradife. 



Which is indeed the plot of all perfec- 
tion, 
Drawn by the compafs of divine con- 
ceit ; 

Whofe line is life laid by His love's 
direftion, 
Who makes all flefh upon the fpirit 
wait ; 

Whofe ilowers are fruits of Faith's 
eternal favour, 

Sweet to the foul in ever-living favour. 



A Bower of Delights, 



Now in this ground doth live this 
glorious King, 
Of Mercy's life amidft the fire of 
Love ; 

Who, as the fun doth caufe the flowers 
to fpring. 
So, by His fire, makes Faith her com- 
fort prove ; 

When heavenly Truth doth Virtue's 
root fo nourifh, 

That her fair flowers fhall grow and 
ever flourilh. 

Now here the herbs, were wholefome 

fentences. 
Which purge the heart of every idle 

thought ; 
And for each grafs, a grace of wit and 

fenfes, 
By heavenly bleffing from the fpirit 

brought : 
In midfl: whereof the Well of Life doth 

fpring. 
About the which the angels flt and 

flng. 

Here is the light that makes the fun to 
fhine ; 
Here is the brightnefs of the morning 
light ; 



48 A Bower of 'Delights. 

Here is the fun that never doth decline ; 
Here is the day that never hath a 

night ; 
Here is the hope of everlafting blifs, 
And comfort, that beyond all knowledge 

is. 

Here never weed had ever power to 
grow, 
Nor ever worm could make an herb 
to wither ; 

But in the path where all perfedlions go. 
Virtue and Nature kindly went to- 
gether ; 

And heavenly dews did all the fruits fo 
cherifh 

That neither fruit, nor herb, nor flower 
could perifh. 

Here never forrow for the thought of 

lofles ; 
Here ever labour and yet never 

weary ; 
Here never fear of any fatal crofles ; 
Here never mourning and here ever 

merry ; 
Here never hunger, thirft, nor heat nor 

cold ; 
But take enough, and ftill the ftore doth 

hold. 



A Bower of 'Delights. 



Here is the Iky, the fun, the moon and 
liars, 
Set for a dial by the heaven's direc- 
tion ; 

Here never cloud their brighteft Ihining 
bars, 
But fhow their brightnefs in their beft 
perfe6lion ; 

Here is in fum the fweetell light of all, 

From which all lights have their original. 

Here never foot of wicked Pride pre- 
fum'd. 
But is excluded heavenly Paradife ; 
Here is the air with fweetell fweets per- 
fum'd. 
While finners' fighs is bleffed facriiice : 
When faithful fouls in angels' arms 

embraced 
Are in the eye of glorious favour graced. 

Here are the virgins playing, angels 
finging ; 
The faints rejoicing and the martyrs 
joying ; 
Here facred comforts to the confcience 
fpringing, 
And no one thought of difcontent 
annoying ; 



50 A Bower of Delights. 



Here hurt was none and fear of death 

is never, 
But here is love and here is life for ever. 



Here Sorrow's tears do quench the heart 

of Sin ; 
And fire of Love doth kindle life again ; 
Here doth the ground of glory firft 

begin, 
And here is Virtue in her brighteft 

vein : 
Here is in fum the ftate of Honour's 

ftory, 
And of all goodnefs the eternal glory. 

And here is, lo, that Heavenly Paradife, 
Whereto the Pilgrim made his Pil- 
grimage ; 
Where facred Mercy firft did folemnize 

The fpirit to be flefh in marriage ; 
And here the heart did find his fpirit 

bleft. 
To bring the fenfes to eternal reft. 

{Pilgrimage of Paradife.) 



r 



A Bower of 'Delights. 



ELIZABETHAN-JACOBEAN 
CLERGr—i6oT,. 

Give me leave a little. Some take 
upon them_ to be Divines which only 
make the name of God a cloak for their 
knavery. But thefe may rather be called 
lurch-men than Church-men, who, as 
they are hot troubled with much learn- 
ing, fo they have no more honefty than 
they may well away withal. But thefe 
who take eleven for tenths, and yet can 
fcarce read any other names than are 
written in their Ealler-books, is it not 
pity but their places were taken away 
from them, and given to them that 
could and would take more careful 
pains in them ? 

{J Mad World, my M afters.) 

Parfon. 

It was my hap in a little field near 
unto a Church in a country town to 
overtake a little old man in a gown, a 
wide cafTock, a night-cap, and a corner- 
cap, by his habit feeming to be a Divine ; 
of whom I was in hope to find that 



52 A Bower of 'Delights, 



facred fount of charity, that might be 
fome comfort on my return ; whom 
beginning to falute with a few Latin 
words, My friend, quoth he, do not 
deceive yourfelf, I underftand not your 
Greek ; we here that dwell far from 
the City, and are not troubled with fine 
ears to our reading, care for no more 
but to difcharge our duties in our places 
— I mean of a Vicar, for I am no better. 
The Parfon is a man of greater place 
and of fair polTefTions, who dwelleth a 
great way hence, and therefore feldom 
comes into this country. I ufe twice 
a year to bring here his rent and per- 
haps a couple of capons againft Chrift- 
mas for my landlady, and that is as 
much as they look for. And for my 
parifhioners, they are a kind of people 
that love a pot of ale better than a 
pulpit, and a corn-rick better than a 
church-door ; who, coming to divine 
fervice more for fafhion than devotion, 
are contented after a little capping and 
kneeling, coughing and fpitting, to help 
me to fing out a pfalm, and fleep at the 
fecond lelTon, or awake to ftand up at the 
Gofpel and fay Amen at the * fear of 
God ' ; and ftay till the banns of matri- 



A Bower of Delights. 



mony be afked, or till the clerk hath 
cried a pied ftray bullock, a black 
fheep, or a gray mare ; and then for 
that fome dwell far off, be glad to be 
gotten home to dinner. Now, we that 
have no more living than will hardly 
ferve to keep a poor home, are not in 
cafe, God help us, to do anything for 
our poorer brethren ; and therefore, my 
good friend, trouble us not with other 
fpeech than we underftand, left if you 
come before the conftable, he take you 
for fome conjurer, and fo bring yourfelf 
to fome trouble, which I would be forry 
to fee ; for truly you feem a handfome 
man. God hath done his part for you ; 
God be with you. 

{A Mad World, my Mafters.) 



COUNTRT FOLKS— i6iS. 

At our meetings on the holidays be- 
tween our lads and the wenches, fuch 
true mirth at honeft meetings, fuch 
dancing on the green, in the market- 
houfe, or about the May-pole, where 
the young folks smiling kifs at every 



54 ^ Bower of Delights, 

turning, and the old folks checking with 
laughing at their children, when dancing 
for the garland, playing at ftool-ball for 
a tanfie and a banquet of curds and 
cream, with a cup of old nappy ale ; 
matter of fmall charge, with a little 
reward of the Piper, after calling of 
fheep's eyes and faith and troth for a 
bargain, clapping of hands are feals to 
the truth of hearts, when a pair of 
gloves and a handkerchief are as good 
as the beft obligation, with a cap and a 
curtfey ; here ye have maids to milking, 
and fo merrily goes the day away. 
Again we have hay in the barn, horfes 
in the ftable, oxen in the flail, fheep in 
the pen, hogs in the fly, corn in the 
garner, cheefe in the loft, milk in the 
dairy, cream in the pot, butter in the 
difh, ale in the tub, aqua vita in the 
bottle, beef in the brine, brawn in the 
foufe, bacon in the roof, herbs in the 
garden, water at our doors, whole 
clothes to our backs, fome money in our 
coffers ; and having all this, if we have 
God withal, what in God's name can 
we defire to have more ? 

{Courtier and Coufitryma?i.) 



/ A Bower of Delights. 



WISE COUNSELS. 

Let not a fhaft, a bowl, a card nor die, 
Take up thy rent a year before the 
day; 
A parrot's feathers, nor a falcon's eye, 
Make thee too fall to throw thy 

wealth away ; 
Left ' /jat^ I wift ' do keep fool's holy- 
day : 

Efteem a horfe according to his 

pace, 
But lose no wages on a wild- 
goofe chafe. 

Tear not thy throat with holloing to 
hounds, 
Nor ride thy horfe to death to feek a 
hawk : 
Spoil not thine eyes with levelling of 
grounds, 
Nor bar thine honeft neighbour of 

his walk ; 
But take no pleafure with a fool to talk ; 
But hearken to the fhepherds 

what they fain,"^ 
Both of the funfhine and a 
Ihower of rain. 

* = to say. Cf. Raleigh, * Yet what is love, 
good shepherd, sain ?' 



56 A Bower of Delights. 

Feed not too grofs, and drink not over- 
much ; 
The fparing diet is the fpirit's feaft :* 
The pitch and tar are dangerous to 
touch, 
And want of reafon makes a man a 

beaft: 
Of forced evils ever choofe the leaft. 
Be warned by a little from the 

more, 
And take heed of an inward 
bleeding fore. 

Wound not the confcience of a woful 
heart, 
Nor take delight in doing injury ; 
But eafe'the lick of his confuming fmart. 
And keep the poor man in his 

memory ; 
So live, fo die ; fo live and never die ; 
Relieve thy friend, but not with 

all thou haft, 
Left thou be driven to feek to 
him in faft. 

{The Mother's Blejfmg.) 

* Cf. ' II Penseroso '— ' Spare fast that oft 
with gods doth diet.' 



f 



A Bower of 'Delights. 



COUNTRY PLATERS. 

Tell country Players, that old paltry 
jefts, 
Pronounced in a painted motley coat, 
Fills all the world fo full of cuckoo's 
nefts. 
That nightingales can fcarcely ling a 
note : 
Oh, bid them^turn their minds to better 

meanings ; 
Fields are all forry that give no better 
gleanings. 

{PafquiPs Mejfage) 



r 



DARWIN-LIKE OBSERVATION 
OF 'LITTLE CREATURES.' 

To fee the greyhound courfe, the hound 
in chafe, 
Whilft little dormoufe fleepeth out 
her time ; 
The lambs and rabbits fweetly run at 
bafe, 
Whilft higheft trees the little fquirrels 
climb ; 



58 A Bower of Delights. 

The crawling worms out-creeping in 

the fhowers ; 
And how the fnails do climb the lofty 

towers."^ 
{Countefs of Pembroke's Paffion.fi, 98.) 

r 

A DAY IN MERRT ENGLAND 
OF THE OLDEN TIME. 

The Morning. 

It is now Morning, and Time hath 
wound up the wheels of the day's watch, 
while the lark, the fun's trumpet, calls 
the labourer to his work. There is joy 
and comfort through the whole world, 
that the fpirits of life are awaked out of 
their dead fleep. It is the blelTed time 
of Heaven, in which the beft things are 
begun, while Nature goes to Experience 
for the better perfedion of her busfmefs. 
The fun now begins to draw open the 
curtain of his pavilion, and with the 

* As a commentary on the last of the ' snail,' 
I once saw on a ' lofty,' indeed on the loftiest 
of the mysterious stones of Stonehenge, within 
a few inches (exacerbatingly misprinted * miles ' 
in our edition of Breton's Works in loco) of the 
summit, a common shell ' snail.' 



A Bower of Delights. 



heat of his beams draws up the unwhole- 
fome mifts in the air. The mother- 
earth is recovered of her cold ficknefs, 
and fends forth her fair flowers to per- 
fume the infefted air. Now the 
forcerefs, with her magic art, puts her 
charms to filence, and the birds of the 
woods make mufic to the poor traveller. 
Now begin the wits of the wife and the 
limbs of ftrength, to compafs the world 
and make art honourable. Thieves now 
are either caved [ = hidden in cava or 
imprifoned, and knowledge of comfort 
puts Care to a non plus. The beafls of 
the forefts ufe the filence of fear, and 
the wolf like a dog dare not look out 
of his den. The worms into the earth 
and the toads into the waters, fly for 
fear of their heads. This is a time 
that I joy in, for I think no time lofl: 
but in fleep. And now have imagina- 
tions their beft means to attire them- 
felves in the golden livery of their beft 
graces, to which the thought is as no 
time by deprivation of aftion. I con- 
clude, it is in itfelf a bleffed feafon, a 
difperflng of the iirft darknefs and the 
Dial of Alexander. Farewell. 

{Fantaflicks.) 



6o A Bower of Delights. 



One of the Clock. 

It is now the firft hour, and Time is, 
as it were, ftepping out of darknefs and 
flealing towards the day. The cock 
calls to his hen, and bids her beware of 
the fox ; and the Watch, having walked 
the flreets, takes a nap upon a fiall. 
The bellman calls to the maids to look 
to their locks, their fire and their light, 
and the child in the cradle calls to the 
nurfe for a dug [ = the breaft\ The cat 
fits watching behind the cupboard for a 
moufe, and the flea fucks on fweet flelh 
till he is ready to burfl with the blood. 
The fpirits of the ftudious ftart out of 
their dreams, and if they cannot fall 
afleep' again, then to the book and the 
wax-candle. The dog at the door frays 
the thief from the houfe, and the thief 
within the houfe mayhap be about his 
bufmefs. In fome places bells are rung 
to certain orders ; but the quiet fleeper 
never tells the clock. Not to dwell too 
long upon it, I hold it the farewell of 
the night and the forerunner of the day, 
the fpirit's watch and Reafon's work- 
mafter. Farewell. 

{Fantajiicks) 



A Bower of Delights. 



Two of the Clock. 

It is now the fecond hour, and the 
point of the dial hath ftopt over the 
firft flroke, and now Time begins to 
draw back the curtain of the Night. 
The cock again calls to the hen, and 
the Watch begin to buflle toward their 
difcharge. The Bellman hath made a 
great part of his walk, and the Nurfe 
begins to huggle the child to the dug. 
The cat fits playing with the moufe 
which fhe hath catched, and the dog 
with his barking wakes the fervants of 
the houfe. The ftudious now are near 
upon waking, and the thief will be gone 
for fear of being taken. The Forellers 
now be about their walks, and yet ftealers 
fometime cozen the keepers. Warreners 
now begin to draw homeward, and far- 
dwellers from the town will be on the 
way to the market. The soldier now 
looks towards the Court de Garde, and 
the Corporal takes care for the relief of 
the Watch. The earneft fcholar will 
be now at his book, and the thrifty 
hufbandman will roufe towards his rifmg. 
The feaman will now look out for light, 
and if the wind be fair, he calls for a 



62 A Bower of Delights. 

can of beer. The fifhermen now take 
the benefit of the tide, and he that bobs 
for eels will not be without worms. In 
fum, I hold it much of the nature of the 
firft hour, but fomewhat better. And, 
to conclude, I think it the enemy of 
fleep and the entrance to exercife. Fare- 
well. 

{Fantafiicks.) 



e///- three of the Clock. 

It is now the third hour, and the 
windows of heaven begin to open, and 
the fun begins to colour the clouds in 
the fky, before he Iliew his face to the 
World. Now are the fpirits of life, as 
it were, rifen out of death. The cock 
calls the fervants to their day's work, 
and the grafs horfes are fetched from 
the paftures. The milkmaids begin to 
look towards their dairy, and the good 
houfewife begins to look about the houfe. 
The porridge-pot is on for the fervants' 
breakfast, and hungry ftomachs will foon 
be ready for their viftuals. The spar- 
row begins to chirp about the houfe, and 
the birds in the buihes will bid them 



A Bower of Delights. 



welcome to the field. The fhepherd 
fets on the pitch on the fire, and fills 
his tarpot ready for his flock. The 
wheel and the reel begin to be fet ready, 
and a merry fong makes the work feem 
eafy. The ploughman falls to harnefs 
his horfes, and the thruflies begin to look 
toward the barn. The fcholar that 
loves learning will be hard at his book, 
and the labourer by great [ = /^y quantity, 
not daily zuage\ will be walking towards 
his work. In brief, it is a parcel of 
time, to good purpofe, the exercife of 
Nature, and the entrance into Art. 
Farewell. 

(^Fantafticks.) 
^^ 

Four of the Clock. 

It is now the fourth hour, and the 
fun begins to fend her beams abroad, 
whofe glimmering brightnefs no eye 
can behold. Now crows the cock 
luftily, and claps his wings for joy at the 
light, and with his hens leaps lightly 
from his rooft. Now are the horfes at 
their chafi^ and provender ; the fervants 
at breakfaft j the milkmaid gone to the 



64 A Bower of Delights. 

field, and the fpinnerat the wheel ; and 
the fhepherd with his dog going toward 
the fold. Now the beggars roufe them 
out of the hedges and begin their morn- 
ing craft ; but if the conftable come, 
beware the Hocks. The birds now 
begin to flocke, and the fparhawk begins 
to prey for his eery. The threlher 
begins to ftretch his long arms, and the 
thriving labourer will fall hard to his 
work. The quick-witted brain will be 
quoting of places, and the cunning work- 
man will be trying of his Ikill. The 
hounds begin to be coupled for the 
chafe, and the spaniels follow the fal- 
coner to the field. Travellers begin 
to look toward the liable, where an 
honeft oftler is waiting his reward. 
The foldier now is upon difcharge of 
his Watch, and the captain with his 
company may take as good reft as they 
can. In fum, I thus conclude of it : I 
hold it the melTenger of aftion and the 
watch of heaven. Farewell. 

{Fantajiicks.) 



r 



A Bower of Delights. 



Five of the Clock. 

It is now five of the clock, and the 
fun is going apace upon his journey; 
and fie, fluggards, who would be afleep! 
The bells ring to prayer, and the ftreets 
are full of people, and the highways are 
ftored with travellers. The fchollars 
are up and going to fchool, and the 
rods are ready for the truants' correc- 
tion. The maids are at milking and 
the fervants at plough, and the wheel 
goes merrily while the miftrefs is by. 
The capons and the chickens muft be 
raifed without door, and the hogs cry 
till they have their fwill. The fliepherd 
is almoft gotten to his fold, and the herd 
begins to blow his horn through the 
town [ = farmftead\ The blind fiddler 
is up with his dance and his fong, and 
the alehoufe-door is unlocked for good 
fellows. The hounds begin to find after 
the hare, and horfe and foot follow after 
the cry. The traveller now is well on 
his way, and if the weather is fair he 
walks with the better cheer. The 
carter merrily whiftles to his horfe, and 
the boy with his fling cafts ftones at the 
crows. The lawyer now begins to look 



66 A Bower of 'Delights. 

on his cafe, and if he give good counfel 
he is worthy of his fee. In brief, not 
to flay too long upon it, I hold it the 
neceffity of Labour and the note of 
Profit. Farewell. 

{Fantajiicks.) 



Six of the Clock. 

It is now the fixth hour, the fweet 
time of the Morning, and the fun at 
every window calls the fleepers from 
their beds. The marygold begins to 
open her leaves, and the dew on the 
ground doth fweeten the air. The 
Falconer now meets with many a fair 
flight, and the hare and the hounds 
have made the huntfmen good fport. 
The fhops in the city begin to fhow 
their wares, and the market-people have 
taken their places. The fcholars now 
have their forms, and whofoever cannot 
fay his lefTon mufl reverently look for 
abfolution. The Forefter now is draw- 
ing home to his lodge, and if his deer 
be gone he may draw after a cold fcent. 
Now begins the curfed miftrefs to put 
her girls to their tafks, and a lazy hilding 



A Bower of Delights. 



[ = idle jade or hindering\ will do hurt 
among good women. Now the mower 
falls to whetting of his fcythe and the 
beaters of hemp give a ho ! to every 
blow. The ale knight is at his cup ere 
he can well fee his drink, and the 
beggar is as muddle-tongued as if he 
had been at it all day. The fifhermen 
are now at the crier for oyfters, and 
they will never lin [= ceafe^^ crying 
while they have one in their bafket. In 
fum, not to be tedious, I hold it the 
fluggard's fhame and the labourer's 
praife. Farewell. 

{Fantafiicks.) 



Seven of the Clock. 

It is now the feventh hour, and Time 
'.begins to fet the World hard to work. 
The milkmaids in their dairy to their 
butter and their cheefe ; the plough- 
men to their ploughs and their harrows 
in the field; the fcholars to their 
leffons ; the lawyers to their cafes ; the 
merchants to their accounts ; the Ihop- 
men to What lack you ? and every 
trade to his bufmefs. Oh, 'tis a world 



68 A Bower of 'Delights. 

to fee how life leaps about the limbs of 
the healthful : none but finds fomething 
to do : the wife to fludy, the llrong to 
labour ; the fantaftic to make love ; the 
poet to make verfes ; the player to con 
his part ; and the Mufician to try his 
notes. Every one in his quality, and 
according to his condition, fets himfelf 
to fome exercife either of the body or 
the mind. And therefore, fince it is a 
time of much labour and great ufe, I 
will thus briefly conclude it : I hold it 
the enemy of idlenefs and employer of 
induftry. Farewell. 

{Fantajiicks.) 

r 

Eight of the Clock, 

It is now the eighth hour, and good 
ftomachs are ready for a breakfaft. The 
huntfman now calls in his hounds, and 
at the fall of the deer the hours go 
apace. Now begin the horfes to breathe 
and the labourer to fweat, and with 
quick hands work rides apace. Now the 
fcholars make a charm in the fchools, 
and ergo keeps a ftir in many a falfe argu- 
ment. Now the chapmen fall to furnifli 



A Bower of 'Delights. • 



the fhops, the market people make away 
with their wares ; the tavern-haunters 
tafte of the topers' wine, and the nappy 
ale makes many a drunken noil. Now 
the threfher begins to fall to his break- 
faft, and eat apace, and work apace, rids 
the corn quickly away. Now the piper 
looks what he hath gotten since day, and 
the beggar, if he have hit well, will have 
a pot of the beft. The traveller now 
begins to water his horfe, and if he was 
early up, perhaps a bait will do well. 
The oftler now makes clean his ftables, 
and if guefts come in he is not without 
his welcome. In conclufion, for all I 
find in it, I hold it the mind's travail 
and the body's toil. Farewell. 

{Fantajiicks.) 



Nine of the Clock. 

It is now the ninth hour, and the fun 
is gotten up well toward his height, and 
the fweating traveller begins to feel the 
burden of his way. The fcholar now 
falls to conning of his lefTon, and the 
lawyer at the bar falls to pleading of his 
cafe. The foldier now makes many a 



70 A Bower of Delights, 

weary ftep in his march, and the 
amorous courtier is almoft ready to go 
out of his chamber. The market now 
grows to be full of people, and the fhop- 
men now are in the heat of the market. 
The falconers now find it too hot flying, 
and the huntfmen begin to grow weary 
of their fport. The birders now take in 
their nets and their rods, and the fiflier- 
men fend their fifh to the market. The 
tavern and the alehoufe are almoft full 
of guefts, and Weftminfter and Guild- 
hall are not without a word or two on 
both fides. The carriers now are load- 
ing out of town, and not a letter but 
muft be paid for ere it pafs. The 
cryer now tries the ftrength of his throat, 
and the bearward leads his bear home 
after his challenge. The Players' bills 
are almoft all fet up, and the clerk of 
the market begins to Ihow his ofiice. In 
fum, in this hour there is much to do as 
well in the city as the country. And, 
therefore, to be Ihort, I will thus make 
my conclufion : I hold it the toil of wit 
and the trial ofreafon. Farewell. 

(^Fa?itaJ}ick5.) 

r 



A Bower of 'Delights. 



Ten of the Clock, 

It is now the tenth hour, and now 
preparation is to be made for dinner. 
The trenchers mull be fcraped and the 
napkins folded, the fait covered and the 
knives fcoured, and the cloth laid, the 
ftools fet ready and all for the table. 
There muft be hafte in the kitchen for 
the boiled and the roaft, and provifion 
in the cellar for wine, ale, and beer. 
The Pantler [= pantry keeper'] and the 
Butler muft be ready in their offices, 
and the ufher of the Hall muft marflial 
the ferving-men. The hawk muft be 
fet on the perch and the dogs put into 
the kennel, and the guefts that come to 
dinner muft be invited againft the hour. 
The fcholars now fall to conftrue and 
parfe, and the lawyer makes his client 
either a man or a moufe [ = viStim\ 
The chapmen now draw home to their 
inns, and the shopmen fall to folding up 
their wares. The ploughman now 
begins to grow towards home, and the 
dairymaid, after her work, falls to 
cleanfing of her veflels. The cook is 
cutting fops for broth, and the butler is 
chopping of loaves for the table. The 



72 A Bower of 'Delights. 

minftrels begin to go towards the taverns, 
and the curfed crew vifit the vile places. 
In fum, I thus conclude of it : I hold it 
the melTenger of the ftomach and the 
fpirit's recreation. Farewell. 

{Fantajiicks.) 

r 

Eleven of the Clock. 

It is now the eleventh hour ; chil- 
dren mull: break up fchool, lawyers 
muft home to their houfes, merchants to 
the Exchange, and gallants to the 
Ordinary. The difhes fet ready for the 
meat, and the glafles half full of fair 
w^ater. Now the market people make 
towards their homes, and the beggars 
begin to draw near the towns. The 
porridge put off the fire is fet a-cooling 
for the plough folk, and the great loaf 
and the cheefe are fet ready for the 
table. Colleges and halls ring to dinner, 
and a fcholar's commons is foon digefted. 
The rich man's guefts are at courtefy, 
and ' I thank you '; and the poor man's 
feaft is welcome, and * God be with 
you.' The Page is ready with his knife 
and his trencher, and the meat will be 



A Bower of Delight s. 73 

half cold ere the giielb can agree on 
their places. The cook wards the 
kitchen and the butler the buttery, and 
the ferving-men Hand all ready at the 
drefler \_ = draw ere d tab le\ The child- 
ren are called to fay grace before dinner, 
and the nice people rather look than eat. 
The gates be locked for fear of the 
beggars, and the minftrels called in to 
be ready with their mufic. The pleafant 
wit is now breaking a jeft, and the 
hungry man puts his jaws to their proof. 
In fum, to conclude my opinion of it, 
I hold it the Epicure's joy and the 
Labourer's eafe. Farewell. j 

{Fantajlicks.) j 

r I 

i 

Twelve of the Clock. ! 

It is now the twelfth hour : the fun : 

is at his height, and the middle of the | 

day, the firll courfe is ferved in, and the I 

fecond ready to follow. The difhes 

have been read over and the reverfion 

fet by. The wine begins to be called : 

for, and who waits not is chidden. Talk 

pafTeth away time, and when ftomachs 

are full difcourfes grow dull and heavy. ' 

I 
! 



74 A Bower of 'Delights. 

But after fruit and cheefe, fay grace and 
take away. Now the markets are done, 
the Exchange broke up, and the lawyers 
at dinner, and Duke Humphrey's fer- 
vants make their walks in Paul's."^ The 
fhopmen keep their fhops and their fer- 
vants go to dinner. The traveller begins 
to call for a reckoning, and goes into 
the liable to fee his horfe eat his 
provender. The ploughman now is in 
the bottom of his difh, and the labourer 
draws out his dinner out of his bag. 
The beafts of the field take reft after their 
feed, and the birds of the air are at juke 
^=1 jport\ in the bulhes. The lamb lies 
fucking while the ewe chews the cud, 
and the rabbit will fcarce peep out of 
her burrow. The hare fits clofe afleep 
in her mufe \=ihole in a hedge\ while 
dogs fit waiting for a bone from the 
trencher. In brief, for all I find of it, 
I thus conclude in it : I hold it the 
ftomach's .pleafure and the fpirit's 
wearinefs. Farewell. 

{Fantajiicks.) 

* So Hutton, in ' Satyres and Epigrams ' 
(1619), 'dine with Duke Humfrey in decayed 
Paule's ' — see also Donne = go without dinner 
by walking up and down St. Paul's, and deftly 
using toothpicks as if they had just dined. 



A Bower of 'Delights. 



QUEEN ELIZABETH LIVING— 
1603. 

A Queen ... I fay not only with 
Antonio, * God preferve her/ by know- 
ing fuch a queen in a little, but I may 
fay, a great blcffed liland, whom accord- 
ing to the excellency of her nature the 
heavens have worthily named Bazile- 
thea : I fay fuch a queen as not the 
greateft monarchy in the world hath the 
like, to love and honour. 

Let me fay thus much in her due, 
that what dignity foever may be juftly 
given unto man above ail other creatures, 
that and much more may be given unto 
her Majefty above all others ; who in 
all the judgments of the worthieft wits 
on Earth, is worthily held not only the 
Grace of all her Court, but under 
heaven the very glory of her kingdom ; 
whofe patience in all trouble, whofe 
temper in all paffion, whofe bounty to 
the well-deferving and juftice over the 
obftinate ; whofe mercy to the offendant 
and love to the virtuous ; whofe beauty j 
in nature, whofe wifdom in judgment, 
whofe magnanimity in dangers and 
conftancy in religion ; whofe providence 

H 2 



76 



A Bower of Delights. 



in care, and refolution in performance ; 
makes her the true figure of the Phoenix 
and the worthy honoured wonder of the 
world ; whofe praifes fo far pafs the 
reach of human reafon to fct down, that 
Admiration may rather contemplate than 
Conceit exprefs them. For while the 
wife ferve, the virtuous love, the valiant 
fear and the mighty admire, what can 
be faid ? but that fince in the dignity of 
human nature fhe is the worthy wonder 
of her days, let her fubjeds ever pray, 
that in the ever wonder of the world, 
fhe may live the blefTed Majefty of h'er 
kingdom, and be perfuaded that where 
the virtue of beauty and beauty of virtue, 
the mercy of Juilice and care of Judg- 
ment, in the eye of Grace, the heart of 
Truth, and the hand of Bounty, makes 
that angel of a woman, which proves 
the glory of a creature. Let the Phoenix 
be drawn from her fpirit, and the dignity 
of man in this world under heaven from 
her Majefty : whom the Chronicles of 
never-ending ages may eternize for the 
gracious queen of the world. Of which 
truth, while Envy is eating of her 
fnaky hairs with anger to hear of. Fame 
joyfully foundeth her name in eternal 



A Bower of Delights. 



triumph. But left I blot my paper in 
feeking to fliow a fair hand and abridge 
much of her worth in fo little touching 
the wonder of her worthinefs, I will only 
leave princes to admire her, the virtuous 
to love her, the honourable to attend 
her, the learned to commend her, the 
devout to pray for her, that God, who 
by His Almighty power for the good of 
her kingdom, did in her feat of Majefty 
place her, will fo in His glorious mercy 
in the fame ever preferve her, that while 
the whole world is full of her worthy 
fame, her fubjefts may joy to behold the 
Majefty of her perfon, and while the 
greateft part of the world doth admire 
her, the heart of England may ever joy 
to enjoy her : to which prayer I hope 
he lives not fo unv/orthily born that will 
not joyfully say Amen. 

[A Dialogue of Pith and Pleafure.) 



r 



FAITH. 

Faith is the hand of the foul, which 
layeth hold of the promifes of Chrift in 
the mercy of the Almighty. She hath 



78 A Bower of 'Delights. 

a bright eye and a holy ear, a clear 
heart and fure foot. She is the ftrength 
of Hope, the truft of Truth, the honour 
of Amity and the joy of Love. She is 
rare among the fons of men and hardly 
found among the daughters of women ; 
but among the fons of God fhe is a con- 
veyance of their inheritance, and among 
the daughters of Grace, fhe is the 
alTurance of their portions. Her dwell- 
ing is in the Church of God, her con- 
verfation with the faints of God, her 
delight with the beloved of God, and 
her life is in the love of God. She 
knows no falfehood, diftrufts no truth, 
breaks no promife, and coins no excufe ; 
but as bright as the fun, as fwift as the 
wind, as fure as the rock, and as pure as 
gold, fhe looks toward heaven but lives 
in the world, in the fouls of the Ele6t, 
to the glory of Elcftion. She was 
wounded in Paradife by a dart of the 
Devil and healed of her hurt by the 
death of Chrift Jefus. She is the poor 
man's credit and the rich man's praife ; 
the wife man's care and the good man's 
cognizance. In fum, finding her worth 
in words hardly to be expreffed, I will 
in thefe few words only deliver my 



A Bower of 'Delights. 



opinion of her : fhe is God's bleffing and 
man's blifs, Reafon's comfort and Virtue's 
glory. 

{^C hampers upon EJfays.) 

r 

J PRETTY FANCY. 

Who takes a friend, and trufts her not ; 
Who hopes of good, and hath it not ; 
Who hath an item, and keeps it not ; 
Who keeps a joy, and loves it not ; 

The firft wants wit, the fecond will ; 

Carelefs the third, the fourth doth ill. 
{Jrbor of Amorous Devices.) 



FOLLIES. 

Oh, 'tis a word to hear a gander keak=: 

quack 

And all the geefc to give a hifs to 

hear ; 

To hear an owl to teach a parrot fpeak, 

While cuckoo's notes makes better 

mufic clear, 



8o A Bower of Delights. 

Where ne'er a] better finging-bird is 
near ; 

Would it not grieve a good Mufi- 

cian's ear, 
To be enforced to Hand attentive 
hear ? 

To fee a wife man handled like a fool ; 

An afs exalted like a proper man ; 
To fee a puddle honour'd like a pool ; 
An old blind goofe fwim wagers with 

a fwan ; 
A filver cup'^difgraced by a can ; 

Who would not grieve that fo 

the world fhould go ? 
But who can help it, if it will 
be fo ? 

No, no, alas ! it is in vain for mc 

To help the eyes that joy not in the 
light ; 
He that is fworn that he will never fee, 
Let him play buzzard with his blinded 
fight ; 

He that is o'er-conceited of his 

Art 
Muftdie of folly ; there's no help 
for it ... . 



A Bower of 'Delights, 


8i 


A curtal jade will fhew his hackney 




tricks, 




And Inarling curs will bice a man 




behind ; 




The blackthorn fhrub is bell known by 




his pricks ; 




A keflrel cannot choofe but fhow her 




kind ; 




Wife men fometimes muft wait till 




fools have din'd ; 




And yet thefe fools in common 




Wits' conceit, 




Are wife when Wifdom on their 




Wealth doth wait. 




And yet the wealthy Fool is but a Fool ; 




The Knave with all his wealth is but 




a Knave ; 




For trueft Wifdom reads in Virtue's 




School, 




That there is no man happy till his 


1 


grave ; 




The hermit has more quiet in his 




cave 




Than many a king that long 




ufurps a crown. 




That in the end comes headlong 




tumbling down. 




{PafquiPs PaJJion.) 





82 I A Bower of Delights. 

FORKS {WITH KNIFES\j4N IN- 
N OF ATI ON AND LUXURK 

For us in the country, when we have 
walhed our hands after no foul work, 
nor handling any unwholefome thing, 
we need no little forks to make hay 
with our mouths, to throw our meat 
into them. 

{T/?e Courtier and the Comitryman.) 

[Cf., * King John,' i. i, 190.] 

r 

WEARERS OF THE FOOL'S CAP. 

If thou chance to meet an idle mate, 

Whofe tongue goes all too glib upon 

the feare = trigger 

And chief delight is fo much in his 

prate. 

As when he comes, will be chief 

prater there : 
In friendly kindnefs tell him in his 
ear. 

That in the rules of Wit and 

Reafon's School, 
He will be counted but a prating 

FOOL. 



A Bower of 'Delights. 



83 



And if you hap to light upon a Gull, 

That is conceited of his mother-wit, 
And doth apply his beetle-headed fcull 
But to an humour of an idle fit ; 
In honeft kindnefs let him hear of it, 
That in the rolls of Wifdom's 

rules you read, 
Lefs hope of him than of a fool 
indeed. 

And if you chance to fee the Son of 
Pride 
Look fifteen thoufand mile above the 
moon ; 
And lie abed until his idle hide 

Muft make a morning of an afternoon, 
For fear his Worfhip fhould be up too 
foon ; 

Left that the air ihould hap to 

do him harm, 
Send hi7n the Fool's Cap for to 
keep him warm. 

And if you chance to fpy a fubtle flave 
That hath a world of fimple wits 
beguil'd, 
And, like a cunning, cogging, cozening 
knave. 
On other harms, his helps doth only 
build : 



84 ^ Bower of Delights. 



Tell him that Satan is a fubtle child ; 
That while the wicked gold for 

drofs do fell, 
Makes fools feem wife until they 
come to hell. 

{PafquiVs Foole's Cap,) 



HEAVEN V. EARTH. 

The Earth, alas ! from whence your 
loves receive 
Their flowers and fweets, their pearls 
and precious ftones. 
To deck themfelves ; with which they 
fo deceive 
The blinded fpirits of the fimple ones ; 
This Earth, from whence their 

outward graces fpring, 
Is but the footftool of my 
heavenly King. 

And if He fo hath deck'd the Earth 
below ; 
Imagine, then, the glory of His feat ;'^ 

* Cf. Giles Fletcher : 
* If such a house God to another gave, 
How shine those glittering courts He for 
Himself will have' (our edition, p. 211, 
St. 27). 



A Bower of Delights. 



Which may perfuade, where angels 
tremble {o. 
For human eyes the glory is too great ; 
For where the fun, the moon 

and ftars have light, 
For Nature's eyes the beauty is 
too bright. 

{^Jl Solefun PaJJion.) 



r 



HONOUR. 

Honour is a title or grace, given by 
the fpirit of Virtue to the feed of 
valour, in the defence of Truth. It is 
wronged in bafenefs, and abufed in un- 
worthinefs, and endangered in wan- 
tonnefs, and loft in wickednefs. It 
nouriiheth art, and crowneth wit, giveth 
learning, and glorifieth wifdom. In the 
Heraldry of Heaven it hath the richeft 
coat, being in nature allied unto all the 
houfes of Grace, which in the heaven of 
heavens attend the King of Kings. Her 
efcutcheon is a heart, in which, on the 
Ihield of Faith, fhe bears or[ =golden\ the 
anchor of Hope and the helmet of Salva- 
tion. She quarters with Wifdom in the 



A Bower of Delights. 



refolution of Valour, and in the line of 
Charity Ihe is the home of Juftice. Her 
fupporters are Time and Patience, her 
mantle Truth, and her creft Chrift 
treading upon the globe of the world. 
Her imprefs is Corona mea Chrifius. In 
brief, finding her flate fo high that I 
am not able to climb unto the frame of 
her perfedlion, I will leave her royalty 
to the regifler of moft princely fpirits, 
and in my humble hand thus only de- 
liver my opinion of her : She is Virtue's 
due and Grace's gift, Valour's wealth 
and Reafon's joy. 

{Characters upon EJfays.) 

[Cf. Milton's * Hymn upon the Cir- 
cumcifion' : 

* He, who with all Heav'n's heraldry 
whilere, 
Enter'd the world, now bleeds to 
give us eafe.' 

So, converfely, Phineas Fletcher's 
Locufts (our edition, Works, ii., 73, ft. 
18), 'Hell's Heraldry.'] 



r 



A Bower of Delights. 



AN ODD HUMOUR, 

Purely fair and fairly wife ; 
Bleifed wit and blelTed eyes ; 
Blelfed wife and bleffed fair ; 
Never may thy blifs impair. 

Kindly true and truly kind ; 
Bleffed heart and bleffed mind ; 
Bleffed kind and bleffed true ; 
Ever may thy blifs renew. 

Sweetly dear and dearly fweet ; 
Bleffed where thefe bleffmgs meet 
Bleffed meetings never ceafe ; 
Ever may thy blifs increafe. 

Bleffed Beauty, Wit and Senfe ; 
Bleft in Nature's excellence ; 
Where all bleffmgs perifh never, 
Bleffed may'ft thou live for ever. 
(yMelavcholic Humours.) 



r 



INHOSPITJLITT. 

When I had been a little on fhore, 
had weathered myfelf, dried my clothes, 
filled my belly, and emptied my purfe, 
I now began to think how my wits 
fhould work for my welfare. And firfl 



88 A Bower of Delights. 

intending to feek entertainment of fome 
noble perfon, that would honourably 
look into the virtues, valour, and good 
qualities of a good mind, I began to put 
on a refolution to adventure my fortune 
and endure any difcomfort that might 
be a hindrance to my happinefs. And 
with this refolution, travelling till I was 
v/eary, almoft pennilefs, and exceedingly 
hungry, I came to the view of a goodly, 
fair, and gorgeoufly built houfe, which 
ftood, as it were, a mile from a city near 
adjoining. Now in hope there to find 
fome fuch perfon as I before fpake of, 
I began to roufe up myfelf, as one that 
had an afTured hope at leaft of fome good 
viftual — I mean of a good dinner fcot- 
free — however otherwife Fortune would 
be my friend. When, ere I would ap- 
proach too near the houfe, left I fhould 
be feen in any unfit manner, I combed 
my beard, gartered up my ftockings, 
truiled every point, buttoned every 
button, and made myfelf ready in the 
beft manner I could, to appear before 
the prefence of fuch as I fhould meet 
withal in this gallant manfion. But 
when I came near unto the houfe, and 
finding the door fhut, I did imagine 



A Bower of Delights, 



(being about the mid-time of the day) 
that the fervants were all at dinner, and 
the lord of the houfe either laid down 
to fleep or gone into the clofet to talk 
upon fome accounts with his lady. But 
hearing no found of any noife nor voice 
within of either man or dog, I feared 
fome ill-fortune, that there was fome 
great ficknefs or danger of death that 
might damp the fpirits and {o caufe the 
forrow of the whole houfe. But flaying 
awhile, and neither hearing anyone 
within nor any poor creature without 
at the gate, that might hope of alms 
from the Hall, I feared the charity 
within was fo little that my comfort 
without would be according. But after 
that I had flood awhile, loth to lofe 
time, I knocked at the door ; where I 
knocked long before I had any anfwer, 
and in the end was faluted at a window 
far within by an old fellow, who it 
lliould feem to fave a groat, had flept 
out his dinner ; whofe fpeech (with a 
wide mouth gaped out) was this : 
* What lack you r' ' My friend,' quoth 
I, ' I pray you let me fpeak with you.' 
' No,' quoth he, * I cannot come down ; 
I am bufy ; my mafler is not at home, 



90 A Bower of Delights. 



and there is nobody in the houfe but I 
and my wife, and fhe is not well ; but 
fay your errand, and I will hear you.' 
My errand, thought I. Was there ever 
fuch a kennel for fuch a cur ? Doth he 
take me for fome forry fellow, or hath 
he no better kind of greeting for 
ftrangers ? And thus while I ftand 
mufing and fretting at my future and 
this bad fellow, he Ihut the window, 
and I with a figh to fee how I was mif- 
taken in this fair houfe, turning me 
from it, I met with a fool in a pied 
coat, who, looking upon me after he 
had out-laughed himfelf, told me : * Sir, 
you are miftaken. This is a Banqueting 
Houfe, where the gazers are only fed 
with conceits ; for there is not a 
chimney that fmokes nor a door open. 
It is called Mockbeggar. Ha ! ha ! ha !' 
Now when the fool went thus laughing 
away, and left me, more fool, to tarry 
there, before I ftirred my foot, out of 
my pocket I took my table book, in 
which I writ down this. 

{A Mad World, my Mafiers.) 

[Parker, in his * Curtain Drawer ' 
(161 2) has manyfimilar hits on contem- 



A Bower of Delights, 



porary inhofpitality ; e.g.^ ' Then [in the 
good old times] noblemen's chimneys 
ufed to fmoke, and not their nofes' (our 
edition). On ' table-book/ cf. * Hamlet,* 
ii. 2, and * Winter's Tale,' iv. 3.] 



9 



A PJ7HETIC LETTER BT 
BRETON. 

To my dearejl beloved friend on Earth, 
H, W, 

Honest Harry, — Out of a troubled 
fpirit of a tormented heart, I write to 
thee, and therefore bear with my fkill 
if it be not in the pleafing nature of fo 
good an humour as I could wifh and 
thou art worthy of. But as I know 
thee able to judge of colours better 
than the blind eyes and beetle-heads 
[ =Jtupid clowns'] and of that true kind- 
nefs that can and doth rather comfort 
the afflifted than increafe the forrows 
of the diflreffed ; let me unfold to thee 
fome part of my palTion, that patience 
in thy pity may better play her part in 
my fpirit. What fhall I fay ? I live 
without life, pleafured in nothing, crolTed 



92 A Bower of 'Delights, 

in all hopes, put in many fears, languiih- 
ing in many forrows, and troubled with 
the griefs of a wounded confcience : not 
with the horrors of murder, the fear of 
treafon, nor delight in fin, but with the 
cruelty of Fortune, the unkindnefs of 
friends and the breach of credit, and 
moft of all with them whom I moll love. 
Oh God, my heart acheth, and blame it 
not : and my fpirit mourneth, and re- 
prove it not ; for though patience be a 
virtue that maketh men divine, yet there 
is but one Chrift, and men are no angels. 
And let me tell the truth, the mifery of 
my life is intolerable in the fenfe of 
Nature ; for compare the affliftions of 
the moil patient, with the caufes of my 
paiTions, and provide a world of pity to 
behold the map of my miferies. Hath 
any man been wealthy and become 
poor ? fo am I. Hath another fufFered 
wrong ? fo do I, Another buried his 
parents, children and dear friends ? fo 
have I. Another travelled far in hope 
of gain and returned with lofs ? fo have 
I. Another been wounded in the Wars, 
fared bad, lain in a cold bed many a 
bitter llorm, and been at many a hard 
banquet t all thefe have I. Another 



A Bower of Delights. 



imprifoned ? fo have I. Another long 
been fick ? fo have I. Another plagued 
with an unquiet wife ? fo am I. Another 
indebted to his heart's grief and fain 
would pay and cannot ? fo am I. In 
fum, any of thefe crofTes are able to 
kill the heart of a kind fpirit, and all 
thefe lie at once fo heavy upon my heart 
as nothing but the hand of God can 
remove : befides, my continual toil for 
the reward of unquietnefs, while that 
which fhould be my comfort is my 
forrow. Imagine how with all this I 
can live, and think what a death it is 
thus to live ! Oh for the fcorn of the 
proud, the abufe of the ungracious, the 
fcofF of the foolifh, and the fcanning 
of the unkind ; the company of the 
difcontentive, and the want of the moft 
affeded [ = beloi'e£\ ; the difgrace of 
learning, the lofs of time, and the mifery 
of want. If there be a hell on earth, it 
cannot be far from this caufe of my 
difcomfort ; where I am fure the devil, 
feeing my defire to ferve God, layeth all 
his bars he can in the way for my 
difcomfort. But I defy him, and hope 
in Chrift that my living and loving God, 
who hath tried my foul in adverfities, 



94 A Bower of Delights, 

I will one day in His mercy fo look upon 
me that the devil fhall be driven back 
from his purpofe ; and the tears of my 
body wiped away, I fhall rejoice in fuch 
a joy as all my griefs clean forgotten, 
my heart and foul fhall — in the joy of 
my fenfe, in the heavenly harmony of a 
holy hymn — fmg a new fong of praife 
to the glory of my Saviour : for the 
haftening whereof in my deliverance 
from my torments and comforts in His 
mercies, I will frame my daily prayers, 
and be alTured of thy amen. But I fear 
I am too tedious, and therefore will thus 
end : God continue my patience, but 
not my forrows ; give me deliverance 
from my miferies, and make me thankful 
for His bleffings, and blefs thee with as 
much happinefs as thou knowefl I want. 
So, leaving my hopes to His mercy and 
us both to His tuition, I reft with as 
little reft as I think any man can reft, 
Thine or not mine own, N. B. 

{A Pojle.) 



r 



A Bower of Delights. 



LOVE LETTERS. 

To my Sweet Love, Mijirefs E. S. 

Sweet Love, — If abfence could breed 
forge tfulnefs, then Fortune fhould do 
much harm to AfFedion ; but when the 
eye of the mind looketh into the joy of 
the heart, the fentence may well be 
fpoken. As in filence you may hear 
me, fo in abfence you may fee me ; for 
love is not an hour's humour nor a 
ftiadow of light, but it is a light of the 
fpirit and a continuing paffion. Think 
not, therefore, I do or can forget thee, 
or love myfelf but for thee. Shortly I 
hope to fee thee, and in the meantime, 
though not with thee, yet not from 
thee ; nor will be at reft with myfelf 
till I may reft only with thee, I reft 
always to reft thine only and all. 

{F. fF.) 

r 

Her t^nfzver. 

My Dear, — If delays were not a 
death to Love, excufe were current in 
the conftrudlion of kindnefs ; but 



96 A Bower of Delights. 

fentences are better fpoken than under- 
ftood [== when written], and a pleafing 
prefence is better than an excufed 
abfence. Remembrance is good, but 
pofTeffion better, and Love holdeth 
memory but a kind of melancholy. Let 
your felf, therefore, be the meffenger 
rather of your love than your letters, left 
Fortune in a mad fit crofs to your beft 
comfort, not in refpe6l of my conftancy, 
but my parents' unkindnefs. This is all 
I will write at this time, but wilhing a 
happy time to the beginning of a never 
ending, I reft till that time and at all 
times, one and the fame, 

Yours, as you know, E. P. 
{A Pojfe.) 



WHAT IS LOVE? 

Men talk of Love that know not what 

it is ; 
For could we know what Love may be 

indeed 
We would not have our minds fo led 

amifs 



A Bower of 'Delights, 



With idle toys, that wanton humours 

feed ; 
But in the rules of higher reafon read 
What love may be, fo from the 

world conceal'd 
Yet all too plainly to the world 
reveal'd. 

Some one doth fain Love is a blinded 

god ; 
His blindncfs him more half a devil 

fhews ; 
For Love with blindnefs never made 

abode ; 
Which all the power of Wit and Reafon 

knows : 
And from whofe grace the ground of 
knowledge grows. 

But fuch blind eyes .that can no 

better fee 
Shall never live to come where 
Love may be. 

Some only think it only is a thought 
Bred in the eye and buzzeth in the 

brain ; 
And breaks the heart until the mind be 

brought 
To feed the fenfes with a forry vein ; 



98 A Bower of Delights. 

Till wits once gone, come never home 
again : 

And then too late in mad conceit 

do prove 
Fantaftic wits are ever void of love. 

Some think it is a babe of Beauty's 

getting, 
Nurfl up by Nature and Time's only 

breeding ; 
A pretty work to fet the wits a-whetting 
Upon a fancy of an Humour's feeding ; 
Where Reafon finds but little fenfe in 
reading : 

No, no, I fee children muft go to 

fchool ; 
Philofophy is not for every fool. 

And fome again think there is no fuch 

thing 
But in conceit, a kind of coined jeft ; 
Which only doth of idle humours fpring 
Like to a bird within a Phoenix neft, 
Where never yet did any young one reft : 
But let fuch fools take heed of 

blafphemy, 
For Love is high in his divinity. 

But to be Ihort, to learn to find him out, 
'Tis not in Beauty's eye nor babies' 
hearts ; 



A Bower of Delights, 



99 



He muft go beat another world about, 
And feek for Love but in thofe living parts 
Of Reafon's light, that is the life of arts ; 
That w^ill perceive though he can 

never fee 
The perfedl effence whereof Love 
may be. 

It is too clear a brightnefs for man's eye ; 
Too high a wifdom for his wits to find ; 
Too deep a fecret for his fenfe to try ; 
And all too heavenly for his earthly mind ; 
It is a grace of fuch a glorious kind 

As gives the foul a fecret power to 

know it ; 
But gives no heart nor fpirit power 
to (how it. 

It is of heaven and earth the higheft 

beauty ; 
The powerful hand of heaven's and 

earth's creation ; 
The due commander of all fpirits' duty ; 
The deity of angels' adoration ; 
The glorious fubftance of the foul's 
falvation : 

The light of Truth that all pcr- 

feftion trieth, 
And life that gives the life that 
never dieth. 



LOFC. 



I oo A Bower of Delights. 

It is the height of God and hate of ill, 
Triumph of Truth and Falfehood's over- 
throw ; 
The only worker of the Higheft Will, 
And only knowledge that doth know- 
ledge know, 
And only ground where it doth only 
grow : 

It is in fum the fubilance of all blifs, 
Without whofe bleffing all things 
nothing is. 

But in itfelf itfelf it all containcth, 
And from itfelf but of itfelf it giveth ; 
It nothing lofeth and it nothing gaineth, 
But in the glory of itfelf it liveth ; 
A joy which foon away all forrowdriveth : 

The proved truth of all perfection's 
ftory, 

Our God incomprehenfible in glory. 

Thus is it not a riddle to be read, 

And yet a fecret to be found in reading ; 

But when the heart joins iffue with the 

head, 
In fettled faith to feek the fpirit's feeding; 
While in the wounds that ever frefh and 

bleeding, 



A Bower of Delights, loi 

In Chrift His fide, the faithful foul 

may fee 
In perfeft life what perfedl love 

may be. 
{Longing of a Blejfed Hearty 1601.) 

r 

LOVE. 

Foolifh love is only folly ; 

Wanton love is too unholy ; 

Greedy love is covetous ; 

Idle love is frivolous ; 

But the gracious love is it 

That doth prove the work of wit. 

Beauty but deceives the eye ; 
Flattery leads the ear awry ; 
Wealth doth but enchant the wit ; 
Want, the overthrow of it ; 
While in Wifdom's worthy grace. 
Virtue fees the fweeteft face. 

There hath Love found out his life, 
Peace without all thought of llrife ; 
Kmdnefs in Difcretion's care ; 
Truth, that clearly doth declare 
Faith doth in true fancy prove, 
Lull the excrements of Love. 



I02 A Bower of Delights. 

Then in faith may fancy fee 
How my love may conftrued be ; 
How it grows and what it feeks ; 
How it lives and what it likes ; 
So in higheft grace regard it, 
Or in loweft fcorn difcard it. 

{PaJJionate S hep heard.) 



r 



MY LADY-LOVE, 

Love, oh life of more tormenting 
Than the world hath inventing ; 
Never feized upon a creature 
In a truer killing nature : 
Not with Venus' idle itching, 
Nor with vain afFefts' bewitching ; 
But with Wit and Reafon's feeing, 
Nature's beauties fweeteft being : 
Time and Truth on Earth declaring 
Excellence hath no comparing : 
Not a hair but hath in holding 
Honour's heart, in Love's beholding ; 
Not an eye, but in her glances 
Graceth reafon in Love's trances ; 
Not a look but hath in loving 
Faith too fall for ever moving ; 



A Bower of Delights . 103 

Not a word but in commanding 
Daunteth Folly from demanding ; 
Not a lip but makes the cherry- 
Only held a pretty berry ; 
Not a breath that foftly blows 
But perfumeth where it goes ; 
Not a truth but doth difplay 
All the Chefs in battle 'ray ; 
Where the princely eye may fee 
How they all in order be : 
King and Queen, Knight, Bifhop, Rook, 
And the Pawn his place hath took : 
BlelTed cheek, the fweeteft cliain 
Of Afteftion's fweeteft vein : 
What can fweeteft judgments fay 
But thou carrieft fweet away ? 
Pretty cheek, in whofe fweet pit 
Love would live and die to fit ; 
Let me think no more on thee, 
Thou haft too much wounded me. 

{PaJJionate Shephcard.) 

LOME'S TES AND NO. 

Doth Love live in Beauty's eyes? 

Why then are they fo unloving ? 

Patience in her paffion proving, 
There her forrow chiefly lies. 



1 04 A Bower of Delights. 



Lives Belief in lovers' hearts ? 

Why then are they unbelieving ? 

Hourly fo the^fpirit grieving 
With a thoufand jealous fmarts. 

Is there pleafure in Love's paffion ? 

Why then is it fo unpleafing ? 

Heart and fpirit both difeafing, 
Where the wits are out of fafhion. 

No ; Love fees in Beauty's eyes ; 

He hath only loft his feeing ; 

Where in Sorrow's only being 
All his comfort wholly dies. 

Faith, within the heart of Love, 
Fearful of the thing it hath ; 
Treading of a trembling path, 

Doth but jealoufy approve. 

In Love's paffion then what pleafure. 

Which is but a lunacy ? 

Where grief, fear, and jealoufy, 
Plague the fenfes out of meafure. 

Farewell then unkindly Fancy, 
In thy courfes all too cruel ; 
Woe the price of fuch a jewel. 

As turns Reafon to a frenzy. =franfy 



A Bower of 'Delights. 105 



FAREWELL TO LOVE. 

Farewell Love and loving folly, 
All thy thoughts are too unholy ; 
Beauty ftrikes thee full of blindnefs, 
And then kills thee with unkindnefs. 

Farewell wit and witty reafon, 
All betray'd by Fancy's treafon ; 
Love hath of all joy bereft thee, 
And to forrow only left thee. 

Farewell will and wilful fancy, 
All in danger of a frenzy ; 
Love to Beauty's bow hath won thee. 
And together all undone thee. 

Farewell Beauty, Sorrow's agent ; 
Farewell Sorrow, Patience' pagent; = 

pageant 
Farewell Patience, Paflion's flayer, 
Farewell Paflion, Love's betrayer. 

Sorrow's agent, Patience' pagent ; 
Paffion's flayer. Love's betrayer ; 
Beauty, Sorrow, Patience, PafTion ; 
Farewell life, of fuch a fafhion. 

Fafhion fo good fafhion' fpilling ; 
PafTion, fo with pafTions killing ; 



io6 



A Bower of 'Delights. 



Patience, fo with forrow wounding ; 
Farewell Beauty, Love's confounding. 
( Melancholic Humours. ) 

r 

LOVE-LILT. 

Say that I fhould fay I love you. 
Would you fay 'tis but a faying ? 

But if love in prayers move you. 

Will you not be mov'd with praying ? 

Think I think that Love ftiould know 
you, 

Will you think 'tis but a thinking? 
But if Love the thought do fhow you, . 

Will you lofe your eyes with winking? 

Write that I do write you bleffed. 
Will you write 'tis but a writing ? 

But if truth and love confefs it. 
Will you doubt the true inditing ? 

No, I fay, and think, and write it ; 
Write, and think, and fay your 
pleafure ; 
Love, and truth, and I indite it, 
You are blelTed out of meafure. 

{^Daffodils and Primrofes.) 



A Bower of Delights. 107 

LOVE— 'J JEST. 

If that Love had been a King, 

He would have commanded Beauty ; 

But he is a filly thing, 

That hath fworn to do /?er duty. 

If that Love had been a god. 

He had then been full of grace ; 
But her grace and love are odd, 

'Tis too plain a piteous cafe. 

No ; Love is an idle jeil, 

That hath only made a word ; 
Like unto a cuckoo's neft, 

That hath never hatch'd a bird. 

Then from nothing to conceive, 

That may any fubftance be ; 
Yet fo many doth deceive — 

Lord of heaven, deliver me ! 

( Melancholic Humours. ) 

r 

LOVE ACCURSED. 

Love is witty, but not wife, 
When he flares on Beauty's eyes ; 
Finding wonders in conceit, 
That do fall out but deceit. 



io8 yi Bower of Delights. 

Wit is ftable but not ftay'd, 
When his fenfes are betray'd ; 
Where too late forrows deeply prove. 
Beauty makes a fool of Love. 

Youth is forward but too fond, 
When he falls in Cupid's bond ; 
Where Repentance lets him fee, 
Fancy fall is never free. 

Age is cunning, but unkind. 
When he once grows Cupid-blind ; 
For when Beauty is untoward, 
Age can never be but froward. 

So that I do find in brief, 
In the grounds of Nature's grief, 
Age and Youth, and Wit do prove. 
Beauty makes a fool of Love. 

( Melancholic Humours. ) 



J LULLJBT. 

Come, little babe, come, filly foul,= 

innocent 
Thy father's Ihame, thy mother's grief ; ; 
Born as I doubt to all our dole, 
And to thyfelf unhappy chief; 

Sing lullaby, and lap it warm ; 

Poor foul that thinks no creature harm. 



A Bower of Delights. 



Thou little think'ft, and lefs doft know, 
The caufe o1 this thy mother's moan ; 
Thou want'ft the wit to wail her woe, 
And I myfelf am all alone ; 

Why doft thou weep ? why doft thou 

wail ? 
And knoweft not yet what thou doft 
ail. 

Come, little wretch, ah, filly heart, 
Mine only joy, what can I more ? 
If there be any wrong thy fmart, 
That may the deftinies implore : 

'Twas I, I fay, againft my will ; 

I wail the time, but be thou ftill. 

And doft thou fmile ? oh, thy fweet 

face. 
Would God himfelf He might thee fee ! 
No doubt thou wouldft foon purchafe 

grace, 
I know right well for thee and me : 
But come to mother, babe, and play. 
For father falfe is fled away. 

Sweet boy, if it by future chance 
Thy father home again to fend ; 
If death do ftrike me with his lance. 
Yet mayeft thou me to him commend : 
If any alk thy mother's name. 
Tell how by love ihe purchaf'd blame. 



no A Bower of Delights. 



Then will his gentle heart foon yield ; 
I know him of a noble mind — 
Although a lion in the field, 
A lamb in town thou fhalt him find : 

Alk bleffing, babe, be not afraid ; 

His fugar'd words hath me betray'd. 

Then mayefl thou joy and be right glad, 

Although in woe I feem to moan ; 

Thy father is no rafcal, lad ; 

A noble youth of blood and bone ; 
His glancing looks if he once fmile. 
Right honeft women may beguile. 

Come, little boy,''and rock,;afleep ; 

Sing lullaby, and be thou ftill ; 

I that can do nought elfe but weep, 

Will fit by thee and wail my fill ; 
God blefs my babe and lullaby. 
From this thy father's quality. 

[Arbor of Amorous Devices,) 



r 



A Bower of Delights. 



PJSQUIUS MESSAGE."^ 

Go, Mufe, abroad, and beat the world 

about ; 
Tell truth for fhame and hugger up no 

ill; 
Flatter no folly with too plain a flout. 
Nor on a buzzard fet a falcon's bill ; 
Do no man wrong, give every man 

his right ; 
For time will come that all will 
come to light. 

* With * Go '-for refrain, there follow in this 
pointed satire mordant exposures of the sins 
and sinners of the period. But Breton 
was too sweet-blooded and Shakspere-like 

* gentle ' to be a mere satirist. He works in 
graciously-touched delineations of the ' Court ' 
and 'King,' 'Lords and Ladies,' 'Courtiers,' 

* Lawyers,' * Scholars,' ' Country Players,' 
' Fiddlers,' ' Swaggerers,' ' Divine,' ' Soldier,' 

• Craftsman,' ' Fencer,' the ' wretch in world 
that cannot thrive,' the ' Crow,' * ^sop's Fire,' 
'Beggar,' 'Jailor," Prisoner,' ' Piety," Authors 
of High Tragedies,' 'Scrivener,' 'Jugglers,' 
•Pander and Parasite,' 'Traitor,' 'Farmers,' 

• Labourers.' All these are wisely counselled. 
It is hard to hold one's hand with such literary 
treasure-trove available. Our limits compel 
selection of ' Country Players,' * Poets and 
Poor Writers,' 'Authors of High Tragedies.' 
These will be found under their headings. 



112 A Bower of 'Delights, 

Do not perfuade a fool that he is wife, 
Nor make a beggar think he is a king ; 
Say not a mole can fee that hath no 

eyes, 
Nor ftark dead Hocks have any power 
to fpring ; 

For while that logic would main- 
tain a lie, 
'Tis eafily found out in philofophy. 

Tell idle eyes that know not how to 

look. 
That wanton thoughts will work them 

nought but woes ; 

Tell addle wits that have the world 

miftook. 
Unbridled wills are Reafon's over- 
throws ; 

While only truth that walks by 

Wifdom's line, 
Happieth the heart and makes the 
foul divine. 

{PafquiVs Madcappe.) 



A Bower of Delights, 



MURMURERS—JCCESSION OF 
JAMES I. (1607). 

It is written that a man fhould be as 
a god unto man, but it may be written 
that man is, or at leaft many men are, 
as devils unto men ; where there are fo 
many murmurers that there can be few 
lovers. The rich man murmurs at the 
poor man that he Ihould dwell nigh 
him ; the ufurer murmurs at the broker 
that he getteth anything by him ; the 
tradefman murmurs at his neighbour 
that he fhould profper or thrive by him ; 
the lawyer murmurs at the term that 
is fo fhort a harveft for him ; the 
merchant murmurs at the winds that 
his fhips come not home to him ; the 
foldier murmurs at his paymafter that 
he keeps his money from him ; the 
courtier murmurs at his tailor that his 
clothes are not fit for him ; the minifter 
[= curate'] murmurs at the parfon 
becaufe he hath the greatefl profit from 
him, and the parfon murmurs at the 
parifh that they come not to church to 
pay their dues to him, and the parifh 
murmurs at the parfon that they pay 
fo much for fo little pains from him; 



114 



A Bower of Delights, 



the tenant murmurs at his landlord for 
racking of his rent ; the landlord 
murmurs at his tenant to fee him thrive 
by his hufbandry. In fum, there is 
almoft no profeffion or condition wherein 
one doth not murmur at another ; which 
murmuring, while it continueth in the 
hearts of people, it will fujfFer love to 
have no life among them. But were the 
world purged of this malicious humour, 
then would there be as great a heaven 
as there is now a hell in the world ; 
where love Ihould eflablifh fuch a law 
as Ihould never be broken. Among 
men, do not two eyes in one head, two 
hands and two legs to one body, make 
up man ? and fhall not two lands make 
one Kingdom ? Nay, more ; doth not 
one eye the fame that the other, the 
one hand the fame that the other ? and 
fhall not one people fonear another as 
one member is to another, have one 
will, one law, and one love with 
another ? It is ftrange it fhould be fo, 
but I hope it will be otherwife. God 
will have His will and our good King his 
will. In this work of God's will every 
good Chriftian and good fubjedl will 
give his good will to God's and our 



A Bower of Delights, 



King's will ; againft which, if any fhall 
murmur, God will be difpleafed that 
the King is not obeyed ; the King will 
be difpleafed that God is not obeyed; 
the Council will be difpleafed that God 
and the King are not obeyed ; the 
Court will be aggrieved to fee God, 
the King and Council difpleafed ; and 
the commonwealth will have a common 
woe when all thefe are difpleafed. 

(e// Murmuj-er.) 



r 



A SWEET PASTORAL. 

Good Mufe, rock me afleep 
with fome fweet harmony ; 

This weary eye is not to keep 
thy wary company. 

Sweet Love, be gone awhile, 
thou knowell my heavinefs ; 

Beauty is born but to beguile 
my heart of happinefs. 

See how my little flock, 
that lov'd to feed on high. 

Do headlong tumble down the rock 
and in the valley die. 



1 1 6 A Bower of 'Delights, 

The bulhes and the trees, 

that were fo frefh and green ; 

Do all their dainty colours leefe, = lofe 
and not a leaf is feen. 

The Blackbird and the Thrufh, 
that made the woods to ring ; 

With all the reft are now at hulh, 
and not a>^note they fing. 

Sweet Philomela, the bird 

that hath the heavenly throat ; 

Doth now, alas, not me afford 
recording of a note. 

The flowers have had a froft, 
each herb hath loft her favour, 

And Phillida the Fair hath loft 
the comfort of her favour. 

Now all thefe careful fights 

fo kill me in conceit ; 
That how to hope upon delights 

it is but mere deceit. 

And, therefore, my fvveet Mufe, 
that knoweft what help is beft ; 

Do now thy heavenly cunning ufe 
to fet my heart at reft. 



A Bower of Delights. 



And in a dream bewray, 

what Fate fhall be my friend ; 
Whether my life fhall ftill decay, 

or when my forrow end. 

{England's Helicon^ 



PHILLIS AND CORIDON. 

On a hill there grows a flower. 
Fair befall the dainty fweet ; 

By that flower there is a bower, 
Where the heavenly Mufes meet. 

In that bower there is a chair, 
Fringed all about with gold ; 

Where doth fit the fairefl fair. 
That did^ever eye behold. 

It is Phillis fair and bright ; 

She that is the fhepherd's joy ; 
She that Venus did defpite, 

And did blindher little Boy. 

This is fhe, the wife, the rich. 
And the world defires to fee, 

This ipfaquce^ the which 
There is none but only fhe. 



1 1 8 A Bower of Delights, 

Who would not this face admire ? 

Who would not this faint adore ? 
Who would not this fight defire ? 

Though he thought to fee no more. 

Oh fair eyes, yet let me fee, 

One good look, and I am gone ; 

Look on me, for I am he, 

Thy poor filly Coridon. = innocent 

Thou that art the fhepherds' Queen, 
Look upon thy filly fwain ; 

By thy comfort have been feen 
Dead men brought to life again. 
{Arbor of tumorous Devices.) 

r 

PHILLIDA JND CORIDON, 

J Pajioral 

In the merry month of May, 
In a morn by break of day. 
Forth I walked by the wood fide 
When as May was in his pride ; 
There I fpied all alone 
Phillida and Coridon : 

Much ado there was ; God wot 
He would love and fhe would not ; 



A Bower of Delights, 1 1 

She faid, never man was true ; 
He faid, none was falfe to you ; 
He faid, he had lov'd her long ; 
She faid, Love fhould have no wrong. 

Coridon would kifs her then ; 
She faid, Maids muft kifs no men 
Till they did for good and all : 
Then fhe made the Shepherd call 
All the heavens to witnefs truth ; 
Never lov'd a truer youth. 

Then with many a pretty oath, 
Yea and nay, and faith and troth ; 
Such as filly fhepherds ufe —harmlefs 
When they will not love abufe ; 
Love, which had been long deluded, 
Was with kiffes fweet concluded ; 
And Phillida with garlands gay 
Was made the Lady of the May. 

{Daffodils and Primrofes.) 



POETS AND POOR WRITERS. 

Go tell the Poets that their fiddling 

rhymes 
Begin apace to grow out of requeft ; 
While wanton humours in their idle 



I20 A Bower of Delights. 

Can make of Love but as a laughing 
jeft : 

And tell poor Writers ftories are lb 
ftale, 
That penny ballads make a better 
fale. 

[PafquiPs Mefage.) 



PROFERBS AND WISE SJWS. 

Fortune favours fools. Not fo, there 
are fools enough, but there is no fortune. 

Women are like wafps in their anger. 
Not fo, for wafps leave their ftings, 
but women never leave their tongues 
behind them. 

Virgins are angel-like creatures. Not 
fo, for then they would not be fo proud 
of their beauty. 

Painted creatures are dead fpeakers. 
Not fo, for then many women would 
be filent. 

Money is a continual traveller in the 
world. Not fo, for with fome he is a 
clofe prifoner. 

Every child knows his own father. 
Not fo, but fo his mother tells him. 



A Bower of 'Delights. 



There is nothing ftolen without 
hands. Yes, a good name with an ill 
tongue. 

Rich men are ftewards for the poor. 
Not fo, when the poor man's pence fill 
their purfes. 

He that is wife in his own conceit 
is a fool. Not fo, for he that is wife is 
no fool. 

A bagpipe makes more noife than 
mufic. Not fo, for 'tis all mufic, 
though not of the beft. 

There is no fire without fmoke. Yes, 
in a flint. 

The Law is coftly. No, 'tis the lawyer. 

Love is the peace of the Senfes. Not 
where it is joined with jealoufy. 

He is a fond ( =fooliJh) fiflier that 
angles for a frog. Not fo, for he may 
be a bait for a better fifli. 

Neat apparell graceth a man. Not 
fo, a neat man graceth his apparell. 

Try, and then truft. Not fo, for he 
that is kind to-day may be crofs to- 
morrow. 

There is none fo faithlefs as a heretic. 
Yes, an hypocrite. 

There is a time allowed for all things. 
No, not to do evil. 



122 A Bower of 'Delights. 

Poverty is the purgatory of reafon. 
Not fo ; it is the trial of patience. 

He is wife that is rich. Not fo ; he 
is rich who is wife. 

Nothing fo necelTary for travellers as 
languages. Yes, money. 

Which is the beft travel that ever 
was ? Towards heaven. 

What is the beft learning in the 
world ? Truth. 

What is the greateft wealth in the 
world ? Content. 

What is the greateft bleffing to 
Nature ? Health. 

What comforteth a lame man ? That 
he fhall not be fent of hafty errands. 

What is the comfort of Age ? That 
he hath palTed the perils of his youth. 

What is the beft companion in the 
world ? A library, where a man talks 
without offence. 

What is a remedy for all difeafes t 
Death. 

What is a mifer's mufic } Chinking 
of money. 

What is the true fign of a fool ? To 
be ever laughing. 

What is good for a bald head ? A 
periwig. 



A Bower of Delights, 



Who are as gray-headed as old men ? 
Young men when they powder their 
hair. 

(Crojpng of Proverbs ; Crofs-anfwers 
and Crofs-humours.) 

r 

THE QUIET LIFE. 

If Right were rack'd and over-run, 
And Power take part with open 
wrong ; 

If Force by fear do yield too foon ; 
The lack is like to laft too long. 

If God for goods Ihall be unplac'd ; 

If Right for riches leaves his fhape ; 
If World for wifdom be embrac'd : 

The guefs is great much hurt may hap. 

Among good things I prove and find. 
The QUIET LIFE doth moft abound ; 

And fure, to the contented mind, 
There is no riches may be found. 

Riches doth hate to be content ; 

Rude enemy to quiet eafe ; 
Power, for the moft part, is impatient. 

And feldom likes to live in peace. 



M 2 



124 ^ Bower of 'Delights. 

I heard a Shepherd once compare : 
That quiet nights he had more deep, 

And had more merry days to fpare 
Than he which own'd his flock of 
fheep. 

I would not have it thought, hereby, 
The dolphin fwim I mean to teach ; 

Ne yet to learn the falcon fly ; 
I rove not fo far pall my reach. 

But as my part above the reft. 
Is well to wifli and good to will ; 

So till the breath doth fail my breaft ; 
I fliall not ftay to wifli you ftill. = ceafe 
{Arbor of Amorous Devices.) 

r 

GIRD AT THE PURITANS. 

For myfelf, I never loved to angle for 
credit with a fliew of more fober 
countenance than fimple meaning ; for 
'in truth, brother,' and * verily, filler,' 
made the devil dance Trenchmore 
where Hypocrify blew the bagpipe. 
Yea, quoth the Scholar, how catch you 
a trout but with a filken fly, and can 
you better deceive a fool than with a 



A Bower of Delights, 



tafFaty ( =f7nooth) face ? Oh no, laugh 
upon every man at the firll fight, make 
a curtfey of the old fafhion, fay a long 
grace without book, find fault with long 
hair and great ruffs, and tell youth of 
his folly, and all imperfedlions of the 
flefh fliall be excluded from the fpirit. 
( Trenchmour. ) 

r 

QUIPS JND CRANKS. 

There are four things greatly to be 
taken heed of : a fly in the eye, a bone 
in the throat, a dog at the heel, and a 
thief in the houfe. 

There are four grievous lacks to a 
great many in the world : lack of health, 
lack of wealth, lack of wit, and lack of 
hone fly. 

There are four flrange men in the 
world : they that make a god of their 
gold, an angel of the devil, a paradife 
of their pleafure,and glory', of their pride. 

There are four notes of an excellent 
wit : to learn that which is good, to 
labour for that which is neceffary, to 
forefee a mifchief, and to forget that 
which cannot be recovered. 



126 A Bower of 'Delights. 



There are four great trials of wit : to 
choofe a friend and keep him, to con- 
ceal adverfity with patience, to be thrifty 
without covetoufnefs, and to live out of 
the fear of the law. 

There be four great ciphers in the 
world : he that is lame among dancers, 
dumb among lawyers, dull among 
fcholars, and rude among courtiers. 

There are four wicked kinds of 
fcoffers : they that fcofF at the honeft, at 
the wife, at the learned, or at the 
poor. 

There are four knaves much dealt 
withal in the world : the Knave of 
Clubs S^ = drinkers\ the Knave of Hearts 
' = lovers^ the Knave of Spades 
= labourers^ and the Knave of Dia- 
monds [ = rich\ 

There are four things fooliihly proud : 
a peacock that is proud of his tail, for 
he mull: moult it once every year ; an 
hart that is proud of his horns, for he 
muft mew them once a year ; a cuckoo 
that is proud of her note, for fhe fmgs 
but once a year ; and an oak that is 
proud of her leaf, for it falls once a 
year. [Quaint old Dr. Wifdome bids 
the peacock remember that if it has a 



A Bower of 'Delights, 



gorgeous tail it may keep humble by- 
looking down at its black feet.] 

Four notes of a divine nature : to 
regard him whom the world fcorneth, 
to love him whom the world hateth, to 
help him whom the world hurteth, and 
to advance him whom the world over- 
throweth. 

Four needful eyes in a tavern : an 
eye to the guell, an eye to the plate, an 
eye to the fcore, and an eye to the door. 

Four things generally empty : a head 
without brains, a wit without judgment, 
a heart without honefty, and a purfe 
without money. 

Four excellent medicines for many 
difeafes : abftinence, exercife, mirth, 
and patience. 

Four ftrange fports : to fee a bear 
hunt a wild duck, an ape kifs an owl, a 
goofe bite a fox, and a fquirrel hunt a 
coney. 

Four fpeedy palTengers in the world : 
a bird through the air, a fhip through 
the fea, a word from the mouth, and a 
thought from the mind. 

Four tellers of fair weather : when 
the robin-red-breaft fmgs early, when 
the bee works earneftly, when the fpider 



28 A Bower of 'Delights. 

keeps houfe, and the fwallow flies 
merrily. 

Four things good in Winter : good 
fire, good company, good liquor, and 
money to pay for't. 

{The Figure of Four e.) 



THE IGNOBLE RICH. 

* Where gracelefs fons do in their glory fit^ 

The wealthy Rascal, be he ne'er fo 

bafe, 
Filthy, ill-favoured, ugly to behold, 
Mole -eye, plaice -mouth, dog's-tooth 

and camel's-face ; 
Blind, dumb and deaf; difeascd, rotten, 

old; 
Yet, if he have his coffers full of gold, 
He fliall have reverence, curtfey, 

cap and knee ; 
And worfhip, like a man of high 
degree. 
He fhall have ballads written in his 

praife ; 
Books dedicated to his patronage ; 
Wits working for his pleafure many 
ways ; 



A Bower of Delights. 



Pedigrees fought to mend his parentage, 

And link'd, perhaps, in noble marriage ; 

He fhall have all that this vile 

world can give him, 
That into pride the devil's mouth 
may drive him. 
If he can fpeak, his words are oracles ; 
If he can fee, his eyes are fpc6lacles ; 
If he can hear, his ears are miracles ; 
If he can ftand, his legs are pinnacles ; 
Thus in the rules of Reafon's obftacles : 
If he be but a beafl in fhape and 

nature. 
Yet give him wealth, he is a goodly 
creature. 
But be a man of ne'er fo good a mind ; 
As fine a fhape as Nature can devife ; 
Virtuous and gracious, comely, wife and 

kind ; 
Valiant, well - given, full of good 

qualities, 
And almoft free from Fancy's vanities ; 
Yet let him want this filthy worldly 

drofs, 
He fhall be fent but to the Beggar's 
Crofs. 
The fool will fcofF him and the knave 

abufe him. 
And every rafcal in his kind difgrace him; 



130 A Bower of Delights. 

Acquaintance leave him and his friends 

refufe him. 
And every dog will from his door dif- 

place him ; 
Oh, this vile world will feek fo to deface 
him. 

That until Death do come for to 

relieve him. 
He fhall have nothing here but 
that may grieve him. 
If he have pence to purchafe pretty 

things. 
She that doth love him will diffemble 

love ; 
While the poor man his heart with 

forrow wrings 
To fee how want doth women's love 

remove ; 
And make a jackdaw of a turtle dove. 
If he be rich, worlds ferve him 

for his pelf; 
If he be poor, he may go ferve 
himfelf 
If he be rich, although his nofe do 

run, 
His lips do flaver and his -breath do 

ftink, 
He fhall have napkins fair and finely 
fpun; 



A Bower of Delights. 131 

Pills for the rheum, and fuch perfumed 

drink 
As were he blind, he fhall not feem to 
wink ; 

Yea, let him cough, halk, fpit . . . 
If he be wealthy, nothing is amifs. 
But with his pence, if he have got him 

power, 
Then half a god, that is more half a 

devil ; 
Then Pride muft teach him how to look 

as four 
As beldam's milk that turned with her 
fnevil ; =nofe-drops 

While the poor man that little thinketh 
evil, 

Though nobly born, fhall fear the 

beggar's frown. 
And creep and crouch unto a filthy 
clown. 
Oh, he that wants this wicked canker'd 

coin 
May fret to death before he find relief ; 
But if he have the cunning to pur- 
loin 
And eafe the beggar of his biting 

grief. 
Although (perhaps) he play the privy 
thief, 



132 A Bower of Delights. 

It is no matter if the bags be full ; 
Well fare the wit that makes the 
world a Gull. 

{PafquiVs Madcappe.) 

A REPORT SONG IN A DREAM 
BETWEEN A SHEPHERD AND 
HIS NYMPH. 

Shall we go dance the hay ? The hay F 
Never pipe could ever play 

better fhepherd's roundelay. 

Shall we go fmg the fong ? The fong? 
Never Love did ever wrong : 

fair maids hold hands all along. 

Shall we go learn to woo ? To zvoo ? 
Never thought came ever to, 

better deed could better do. 

Shall we go learn to kifs ? To kifs ? 
Never heart could ever mifs 

comfort, where true meaning is. 

Thus at bafe they run. They run. 

When the fport was fcarce begun : 

but I wake, and all was done. 

(^Daffodils and Primrofes.) 



A Bower of 'Delights. 



RESPECT HUMBLE RUSTIC 
FOLKS. 

If you will needs be merry with your 
wits, 
Take heed of names and figuring of 
natures ; 
And tell how near the goofe the gander 
fits ; 
Of Hal and Lil, and of fuch filly 
creatures ; = innocent 

Of Croydon sanguine "^ and of home-made 
features ; 
But fcorn them not, for they are 

honefl: people. 
Although perhaps they never faw 
Paul's fl:eeple. 

{No Whippinge.) 

* Black-a-viced. Croydon was then noted 
for its colliers. A play called 'Grim, the 
Collier of Croydon,' has been (in part) ascribed 
to no less than Shakespeare. See Simpson's 
' School of Shakspeare,' vol. ii., 388, and 
443, 870. 



r 



1 34 ^ Bower of Delights. 



SATIRE TO BE SHUNNED. 

If that a mind be full of mifery, 

What villainy is it to vex it more ? 
And if a wench do tread her fhoe awry 
What honeft heart would turn her 

out of door ? 
Oh, if our faults were all upon the 
fcore ; = debts 

What man fo holy but would be 

aihamed 
To hear himfelf upon the fchedule 
named? 

Let us then leave our biting kind of 

verfes ; 

They are too bitter for a gentler tafte. 

Sharp-pointed fpeech fo near the fpirit 

pierces. 

As grows to rankle ere the poifon 

wafle. 
But let all be forgotten that is paft ; 
And let us all agree in one in this, 
Let God alone to mend what is 
amifs. 

But if we needs will try our wits to 
write, 
And ftrive to mount our Mufes to the 
height ; 



A Bower of Delights. \^Z'!) 

Oh, let us labour for that heavenly light 
That may direft us in our pafTage 

ftraight : 
Where humble wits may holy will 
await : 
And there to find that work to 

write and read, 
That may be worth the looking 
on indeed. 

To fhow the life of unity in love, 
Where never difcord doth the mufic 
mar ; 
But, in the bleffing of the foul's behove 
To fee the light of that far-fhining ftar. 
Which Ihows the day that never night 
can fear ; 
But in the brightnefs of eternal 

glory, 
How love and life do make a blefled 
ftory. 

If we be touch'd with forrow of our fms, 
Exprefs our paffions as the Pfalmifls 
[ did; 

And fhow how mercy, hope's relief 
begins. 
Where greateft harms are in repent- 
1 ance hid : 



N 2 



136 A Bower of 'Delights. 

Where Grace in Mercy doth defpair 

forbid : 
And fing of Him and of His glory 

fuch, 
Who hateth fin yet will forgive fo 

much. 

And let our hymns be angel harmony 
Where Hallelujah makes the heavens 
to ring ; 
And make a concert of fuch company, 
As make the Choir but to their Holy 

King : 
This, then, I fay, would be a blefled 
thing : 
When all the world might joy to 

hear and fee. 
How Poets in fuch Poetry agree . . . 

Let us all Poets then agree together 

To run from Hell and feigned Helicon ; 
And look at Heaven, and humbly hie 
us thither ; 
Where graces Ihall be let iii, every 

one, 
To fmg a part in Glory's unifon ; 
And there to fettle all our foul's 

defire. 
To hear the mufic of their heavenly 
quire. {No Whippinge.) 



A Bower of 'Delights. 



FINAL JPPEJL TO DONNE, 
HALL, MARS TON, JND JLL. 

Oh, Poets, turn the humour of your 
brains 
Unto fome heavenly Mufe, or medi- 
tation ; 
And let your fpirits there employ your 
pains, 
Where never weary needs no recrea- 
tion ; 
While God doth blefs each gracious 
cogitation ; 
For proud companions are alw^ays 

odious, 
But humble Mufes' mufic is melo- 
dious . . . 



No, no ; let Fancy wean herfelf from 
Folly, 
And heavenly prayers grace our 
poetry ; 
Let us not love the thought that is not 
holy. 
Nor bend our minds to blind men's 

beggary _; 
But let us think it our foul's mifery, 



138 A Bower of Delights. 

That all our Mufes do not join in 

one. 
To make a Quire to fing to God 
alone. 
For could our fpirits all agree together, 
In the true ground of Virtue's humble 
grace ; 
To fing of Heaven and of the highway 
thither, 
And of the joys in that moft joyful 

place ; 
Where angels' arms the bleffed fouls 
embrace ; 
Then God Himfelf would blefs our 

foul's inditing ; 
And all the world would love a 
Poet's writing. 

{No Whippinge.) 

SATIRE THREATENED IF 
NEEDED. 

Then let a knave be known to be a 

knave ; 
A thief a villain and a churl a hog ; 
A minx a minion and a rogue a flave ; 
A trull a tit, an ufurer a dog ; 



A Bower of 'Delights, 



A lob a lout, a heavy lol a log ; 

And every bird go rooft in her own 

neft. 
And then perhaps my Mufe will be 
at reft. 

But if a Jack will be a gentleman, 
And Miftrefs Needens lady it at leaft ; 
And every goofe be fancy with the fwan, 
While the afs thinks he is a goodly 

beaft ; 
While fo the fool doth keep Ambition's 

feaft: 

My Mufe in confcience that cannot 
be quiet, 

Will give them this good fauce unto 
their diet. 

But I do hope I am but in a dream ; 
Fools will be wifer than to lofe their 

wits ; 
The country wench will look unto her 

cream, 
And workmen fee beft where their profit 

fits, 
And leave fantafticks to their idle fits : 

Pride fhall go down and virtue fhall 
increafe ; 

And then my Mufe be ftill, and hold 
her peace. 



140 A Bower of Delights. 

But if I fee the world will not amend ; 
The wealthy beggar counterfeit the King, 
And idle fpirits all their humours fpend. 
In feeking how to make the cuckoo 

fing ; 
If fortune thus do dance in Folly's ring, 

When contraries thus go againft their 
kinds 

My Mufe refolves to tell them what 
fhe finds. 

For ihe cannot be partial in her fpeech. 
To fmooth and flatter, to cologue and 

lie; 
She cannot make a breait-plate of a 

beech, 
Nor praife his fight that hath but half 

an eye ; 
She cannot do herfelf fuch injury : 
For file was made out of fo plain a 

mould, 
As doth but Truth for all her honour 
hold. 

{PafquiPs Madcappe.) 



A Bower of Delights. 141 



A SMILE MISCONSTRUED, 

By your leave a little while 
Love hath got a Beauty's fmile, 

From on Earth the faireft face ; 
But he may be much deceiv'd, 
Kindnefs may be mifconceiv'd ; 

Laughing oft is in difgrace. 

Oh, but he doth know her nature, 
And to be that blelTed creature 

That doth anfwer Love with Kind- 
nefs ; 
Tufli, the Phoenix is a fable, 
Phoebus' horfes have no ftable ; 

Love is often full of blindnefs. 

Oh, but he doth hear her voice, 
Which doth make his heart rejoice 

With the fweetnefs of her found ; 
Simple hope may be abufed : 
Hears he not he is refufed ? 

Which may give his heart a wound. 

No ! Love can believe it never, 
Beauty favours once and ever ; 

Though proud Envy play the elf; 
Truth and Patience have approv'd 
Love fhall ever be belov'd. 

If my Miftrefs be her felf. 

( Melancholic Humours . ) 



142 A Bower of Delights, 



^AINT AND APT SATING S. 

Fools are cozened with fair words of 
fine devices, as a foul crow to be per- 
fuaded with eloquence, that fhe is be- 
loved for her white bill. 

{PFit's T^renchmour.) 
Snarling curs will bite a man behind. 

{PafquiPs FooPs Cap) 
A moufe in a cupboard will mar a 
whole cheefe, and an ill-tongued woman 
will trouble a whole town. 

{Wit's Private Wealth.) 
When the owl fings, the nightingale 
will hold her peace. {A Pofte.) 

While the peacock is gazing at his 
train, the fox will be knitting of his 
hofe garters [ =feizing him by the legs\. 
{Wit'' 5 Trenchmour.) 
As rich as a new-lhorn Iheep. 

{J Pofte.) 
I now have found the fnail out by his 
flime. {PaJJionate Shepheard.) 

They were all fparrows to his nightin- 
gale. {Wit's Trenchmour.) 



A Bower of Delights. 



Lofe not thy pains to teach an owl to 
fpeak. 

{Mother's Bleffing.) 

He is but foolifli, were he ne'er fo foon, 
That runs in hafte to overtake the 
moon. 

{PajquiVs FooPs Cap.) 

* To break a bulrufh on a coat of 
fteel.' 

{Honour of Valour.) 

'Tis money makes the man, 
Yet fhall not money make him young 
again, do what he can. 

{A Flourijh upon Fancy.) 
The nearer that thy purfe is poU'd, 
The more ftill friendihip waxeth cold. 

{Ibid.) 
To reap the corn ere it be ripe may 
prove more hafte than good fpeed. 

{Strange Fortunes.) 
Hafty climbers have fudden falls. 

{CroJJing of Proverbs.) 
Very far in millftones to fee. 

{Wit's Trenchmour.) 
Once well warned is as good as twice. 

{Flourijh upon Fancy.) 
There is no pack of cards without a 
knave. {PafquiPs FooVs Cap.) 



144 A Bower of 'Delights. 

Rather love a molehill of thine own 
than a mountain of thy neighbour's. 
{Wit's Trenchmour.) 

Home is home, be it never fo homely. 
{Strange Fortunes.) 

Faint heart never won fair lady. 

{mil of Wit.) 

The nearer the Church the further 
from God. 

{CroJJing of Proverbs.) 

A merry companion is a waggon on 
the way. {Ibid.) 

When thieves fall out true men come 
by their goods. {Ibid.) 

Nothing venture, nothing having. 
{Wonders worth Hearing^ 

It is an ill wind that bloweth no man 
to good. {Ibid.) 

The fmall grafs of the field fills the 
barn full of hay, and the poor man's 
money fills the rich man's purfe. {Ibid.) 

Many drops of water will drive a 
mill. {Jt Murmur er^ 

He who has an evil name is half 
hanged. {Divine Confolations.) 

The evil mind is more foul than the 
blackeft face. {J Murmur er.) 

Spoil not thy teeth with cracking 
fuch a nut. {Mother's Blejftng.) 



A Bower of 'Delights. 



If the cook do not lack wit he will 
fweetly lick his fingers. {Fantajiics.) 

What is bred in the bone will never 
out of the flefh. {Good ajid Bad.) 

It is an evil bird will 'file its own 
nest. {Will of Wit.) 

A calf in a clofet is as ill as a cuckoo 
in a cage. {J Pojle.) 

Ale will make a cat fpeak. l^Ibid.) 
A ftaif is foon found to beat a dog 
withal. {C raffing of Proverbs.) 

To laugh at a horfe's neft[= modern 
* mare* s neft ']. {Flourijh of Fancy.) 

A curtail [=^ docked^ jade will fhow 
his hackney tricks. {^Figure of Four.) 
One fwallow makes not fummer. 

( Wit^s Trenchmour. ) 
Efteem a horfe according to his pace, 
But loofe no wages on a wild-goofe 
chafe. {Mother's Blejfrng.) 

Good mailers are like black fwans 
\=zrare {until Auftralia fent the?n to us)']. 
{J Pofte.) 
The rolling ftone gathers no mofs. 
{Strange Fortunes.) 
Hafte makes wafte. 

{Flourijh of Fancy.) 
To gallop ere he learn to trot. 

{PafquiPs Fool's Cap.) 



146 A Bower of 'Delights. 

He that looks before he leaps, 
Is likeft fure to fland. 

{Flourijh of Fancy.) 
No eye fo cloudy as the wilful blind. 

iyArbor of Amorous Devices^ 
Too long hoping for dead men's shoes. 

{PafquiPs Pafs.) 
Over fhoes, over boots. 

( C rofftjig of Pro verbs.) 
[See our Introduction on Breton as 
the giver of the prefent-day form to 
many Proverbs.] 



SENTENTIOUS SATINGS. 

He that takes much and gives nothing 
fhall have more w^ealth than love. 

He that gives much and takes nothing 
fhall have many thanks and few friends. 

He that builds caftles in the air in 
hope of a new world may break his neck 
ere he comes to half his age. 

He that rifeth early and maketh light 
meals keeps his body in health and his 
ftomach in temper. 

If you offend God repentance will 
have pardon, but if you offend the Law 
take heed of execution. 



A Bower of Delights. 



He that fpends more than he gets 
will hardly be rich, and he that fpeaks 
more than he knows will never be 
counted wife. 

He that offends God to pleafe a 
creature is like him that killeth himfelf 
to avoid a hurt. 

He that feafteth the rich makes a 
friendfhip with Mammon ; but he that 
relievcth the poor is bleffed of God. 

The Ihot of a cannon makes a terrible 
report, but he that ftarts at the noife of 
it will hardly prove a foldier. 

The fpider's web is a net for a fly, 
and a flattering tongue is a trap for a 
fool. 

The longefl: day will have night at 
lait, and age will wither the fmootheft 
fkin in the world. 

A fair flower without fcent is like a 
fair woman without grace. 

A jeft is never well broken but when 
it hurteth not the hearers and profiteth 
the fpeaker. 

Hope is comfortable in abfence, but 
poffeflion is the true pleafure. 

A man is dead when he fleepeth, and 
darknefs is the Sorrow of Time. 

There is no true rich man but the 



O 2 



148 



A Bower of Delights. 



contented, nor truly poor but the 
covetous. 

The rich man's goods make him fear- 
ful to die, and the poor man's want 
makes him weary of his life. 

Snuff a candle and it will burn clear, 
and cut off dead flefh and the wound 
will heal the fooner. 

Thought is a fwift traveller, and the 
foul is in Heav^en in an inflant. 

How vain is the love of riches, which 
may be loft or left in an inftant. 

If thou doft ill do not excufe it ; if 
well, do not boaft of it. 

The cares of bufinefs and the vanity 
of pleafures are the foul's hindrance to 
her higheft happinefs. 

Sin comes with conception, but grace 
only by impofition. 

In the repentance of fin forrow brings 
comfort. 

Who laboureth for knowledge makes 
a benefit of Time, but he that loveth 
virtue looks after Eternity. 

He that makes Beauty a ftar, ftudies 
a falfe aftronomy, and he that is foundly 
in love needs no other purgatory. 

The looking-glafs of life becomes an 
hour-glafs at death. 



A Bower of Delights. 149 

A cat may lofe a moufe and catch 
her again, but he that lofeth time can 
never recover it. 

When rich men die they are buried 
with pomp, but when good men die 
they are buried with tears. 

A great wit may have a weak body, 
and a great head but little wit. 

The tiger is faid to be the cruelleft 
beaft in the world, but an ufurer upon a 
bond will go to the devil for money. 

The eyes grow dim when they come 
to fpectacies, and it is cold in the 
valleys when fnow lieth on the moun- 
tains. 

The iHng of a fcorpion is only healed 
with his blood, and where Beauty 
wounds Love makes the cure. 

A Ihower of rain doth well in a 
drought, but when dull turns to dirt the 
home is better than the highway. 

When the rich prey on the poor and 
the poor pray for the rich there is great 
difference in praying. 

Much reading makes a ready fcholar, 
but the gift of Nature doth m.uch in Art. 

A far traveller feeth much, but he 
that goes to Heaven makes a happy 
journey. 



150 A Bower of 'Delights. 

An efcape from danger is comfortable, 
but to keep out of it is wifdom. 

The hearts of the honeft bleed in- 
wardly. 

A fly feeds a fwallow that will choke 
a man. 

Hunger is the beft fauce to any 
meat. 

Some fay tobacco is good to purge the 
head, but he that followeth it well will 
find it a Ihrewd purge to the purfe. 

No eye can fee the brightnefs of the 
fun : how glorious is then that light 
from whence it hath light. 

Great boaft and fmall roaft makes a 
cold kitchen, and fhrugging of fhoulders 
is no paying of debts. 

He that will hold out the year muft 
abide Winter and Summer, and he that 
will go into Heaven muft endure the 
miferies of the world. 

When a fox prowleth, beware the 
geefe. 

The jfifti in the river is not afraid of 
drowning ; but if he play with a bait it 
will coft him his life. 

A dog will rejoice at the fight of his 
mafter, when, perhaps, his miftrefs will 
frown at his coming home. 



A Bower of 'Delights. 



He that hath arx ill face hath need of 
a good wit. 

Many hands make quick work, but 
one is enough in a purfe. 

When geefe fly together they are 
known by their cackling, and when 
goffips do meet they will be heard. 

When tailors began to mete lords' 
lands by the yard, then began gentility 
to go down the wind. 

Truth hath often much ado to be 
believed, and a lie runs far before it be 
flayed. 

Affability breeds love, but familiarity 
contempt. 

The fun is the labourer's dial, and 
the cock the houfewife's watchman. 

Many a dog is hanged for his fkin, 
and many a man is killed for his purfe. 

'Tis foon enough that is well enough, 
and never too late that doth good at 
laft. 

That is not to-day may be to-morrow, 
but yefterday will never come again. 

Too much reading is ill for the eye- 
fight, and too little reading is ill for the 
in-fight. 

^Be not jealous without juft caufe.' — 
[It will be remembered Shakefpeare 



152 A Bower of Delights. 

puts the fentiment in the mouth of 
Caefar.] 

{Wit's Private Wealth.) 



SPEECH IS SILVERN, SILENCE 
GOLDEN. 

Oh, my thoughts, keep in your words, 
Left their pafTage do repent ye ; 

Knowing, Fortune ftill affords 
Nothing, but may difcontent y£. 

If your faint be like the fun, 
Sit not ye in Phoebus' chair ; 

Left, when once the horfes run. 
Ye be Daedalus his heir. 

If your labours well deferve, 

Let your filence only grace them ; 

And in patience hope preferve. 

That no fortune ftiall deface them. 

If your friend do grow unkind, 

Grieve, but do not feem to fhow it ; 

For a patient heart fliall find 

Comfort, when the foul fhall know it. 



A Bower of 'Delights. 153 

If your truft be all betrayed, 

Try, but truft no more at all ; 
But in foul be not difmayed 

Whatfoever do befall. 

In yourfelves yourfelves enclofe. 

Keep your secrecies unfeen ; 
Left, when ye yourfelves difclofe, 

Ye had better never been. 

And whatever be your ftate, 

Do not languifh over-long ; 
Left you find it, all too late. 

Sorrow be a deadly fong. 

And be comforted in this, 

If your paffions be concealed, 
Crofs or comfort, bale or blifs, 

'Tis the beft, if not revealed. 

So, my deareft thoughts, adieu, 

Hark, whereto my foul doth call ye 

Be but fecret, wife, and true. 
Fear no evil can befall ye. 

{Melancholic Humours^ 1600.) 



1 54 ^ Bower of Delights. 



EDMUND SPENSER, 1599. 

Mournful Mufes, Sorrow's minions 
Dwelling in Defpair's opinions ; 
Ye that never thought invented 
How a heart may be contented ; 
(But in torments all diftreffed, 
Hopelefs how to be redreffed ; 
All with howling and with crying, 
Live in a continual dying) ; 

Sing a dirge on Spenfer's death, 
Till your fouls be out of breath. 

Bid the dunces keep their dens, 
And the poets break their pens ; 
Bid the Ihepherds fhed their tears, 
And the nymphs go tear their hairs ; 
Bid the fcholars leave their reading, 
And prepare their hearts to bleeding ; 
Bid the valiant and the wife, 
Full of forrows fill their eyes ; 
All for grief that he is gone. 
Who did grace them every one. 

Fairy Queen, fhew fair eft Queen 

= Elizabeth 
How her fair in thee is feen ; 
Shepherd^ s Calendar fet down 
How to figure beft a clown ; 



A Bower of Delights, 



As for Mother Hubbard's Tale, 

Crack the nut and eat the fhale ; =Jhell 

And for other works of worth 

(All too good to wander forth), 

Grieve that ever you were wrot, 
And your Author be forgot. 

Farewell Art of Poetry, 

Scorning idle foolery ; 

Farewell true conceited Reafon, 

Where was never thought of treafon ; 

Farewell judgment, with invention 

To defcribe a heart's intention ; 

Farewell Wit, whofe found and fenfe 

Shew a poet's excellence ; 

Farewell all in one together, 

And with Spenfer's garland wither. 

And if any Graces live, 
That will Virtue honour give ; 
Let them fliow their true afFedlion 
In the depth of Grief's perfedlion ; 
In defcribing forth her glory, 
When file is moll deeply forry ; 
That they all may afk to hear 
Such a fong and fuch a quier ; = choir 
As with all the woes they have 
Follow Spenfer to the grave. 

( Melancholic Humo urs. ) 



156 A Bower of Delights. 



A JESTING STORT. 

Francis. It was my hap to travel into 
a country town or pretty village, where 
I lodged in an inn at the fign of the 
Wild Goofe ; w^here, walking in the 
back-fide, I faw a dozen of pretty line 
chickens, when, looking well upon them, 
an unhappy boy (meaning to play the 
knave kindly with me) told me that in 
the morning all thofe chickens would be 
lambs. * Go to now, boy,' quoth I ; 
' do not lie, I pray thee.' ^ In truth, fir,' 
quoth he, ' it is true.' At the firft (a 
little concealing my difpleafure con- 
ceived againft the boy) I wondered at 
his fpeech ; but in the morning I found 
it true. And was not this a wonder ? 
Lad. No, marry. Sir, it is no wonder 
that the goodman of the houfe being 
called Lamb, but the chickens fhould 
be all Lamb's. {Merry Wonders.) 

[The occurrence ut fupra of * back- 
fide ' = garden, or here back-court, recalls 
a mifunderftood bit in Henry Vaughan 
the Silurift in his 'Looking Back ': 



A Bower of 'Delights. 



* How brave a profpedl is a bright back- 

fide ! 
Where flow'rs and palms refrefh the 

eye ! 
And days well fpent like the glad Eaft 

abide, 
Whofe morning-glories cannot 

dye.' 

Lyte, in his edition^of Silex Scintilians, 
ignorant (apparently) of the real mean- 
ing, or offended by its changed applica- 
tion, filently changed the text thus : 

* How brave a profpedt is a traverf'd 

plain !' 

So, too, after-reprints, until our col- 
lective edition of Vaughan. A quotation 
from Ben Jonfon's ' Cafe is Altered ' will 
further illuftrate the early and later 
meaning. — * Onion. . . . but if thou 
wilt go with me into her father's back- 
fide, old Jacques' back-fide, and fpeak 
for me to Rachel '(Activ., fc. 3). Then 
in fc. 4, Jacques being told by Rachel 
that there are fome perfons in the back- 
garden, cries in fear of robbery, ' How, 
in my back-fide ? Where ? What 
come they for ? Where are they ?' It 
is in this back-enclofure that Jacques digs 



158 A Bower of 'Delights. 

a hole for his gold and covers it with 
horfe - dung, and there Onion, left he 
fhould be difcovered, gets up a tree. It 
might be worth while inquiring how 
* back-fide ' has come to have fuch a 
deteriorated and oddly different mean- 
ing-] 



SHIPWRECKED SAILOR'S 
STORT. 

Melancholy walking a little on. . . . 
I began to frame myfelf to the humour 
of a cunning beggar ; when, meeting 
with a grave old man — who by his velvet 
coat, his golden chain and his rich- 
furred gown, fhould feem to be at the 
leaft fome rich Burgher, if not fome 
Burghmafter of fome city — this well- 
apparelled pidlure with a kind of life 
that gave the body leave to carry the 
head upon a fquare pair of fhoulders : 
I, in hope to find him more comfortable 
than the fair houfe of Matter Mock- 
beggar, having faluted with a great 
reverence, and being requited with a 
proud nod, I yet adventured to board 
with a few words. When, hoping to 



A Bower of Delights. 



have found him a man of no lefs under- 
ftanding fpirit, to judge of the eflate 
and conditions of men, than bounty in 
the relief of the unfortunately diftrefled, 
I fell aboard with him with thefe few 
words : * Sir, I think you have heard of 
the hard fortune of the Buon-a-venture, 
whoputintoyour harbour the other night, 
hardly faving her life with lofs of all her 
goods and fome of her people. Myfelf, 
with much ado, well weather-beaten, as 
you may fee, with fome few that lie 
lick in the haven, got to fhore, and am 
now travelling towards your city near 
before me. Loth am I to enter into 
any bafe courfe for my comfort ; but if 
I might be beholden to your good 
favour in this tim.e of my diftrefs, giving 
me your name withal, I doubt not, if I 
live, but either by myfelf or my better 
friends, to find a time either to requite 
or deferve it.' He, as one whofe heart 
was fo fhut up in his purfe that he 
underftood nothing but ware and money, 
after a harfh hum or two, gave me this 
anfwer ^ ' Was there nothing faved of 
her goods, I pray you ? What was her 
freight ?* ' Sir,' quoth I, ' it was moft 
filks and fpices, but fome pearl and 

P 2 



i6o A Bower of Delights. 

money, more than would have been 
willingly loft.' * Good commodities,' 
quoth he, ' by my fay [^=faith'\, a fhrewd 
mifchance ; I am sorry for ye ; I would 
I could do ye good, but am now in 
hafte going about a little bufinefs, and 
therefore I cannot ftand to talk with 
you. God be with you ; the town is 
hard before you, you will be there anon ; 
but if you have any jewels or pearl that 
you have faved, I will give you money 
for it, if I like it.' ' Truly, Sir,' quoth 
I, * jewels I have not many, only two 
rings on my fingers, and this bracelet of 
pearl I have faved. My bracelet coft 
me a hundred crowns ; if it pleafe you 
to have it of the price it coft, though 
againft my will, I will part with it.' 
With this upon his bottle-red nofe he 
drops on a pair of fpectacles, and look- 
ing on my pearl, found fault with the 
roundnefs and the clearnefs, and I know 
not elfe, till at the laft, thinking to make 
a gain of my mifery, he offered me ten 
crowns, faying that he had no need of it, 
but rather than I ftiould be disfurniftied 
of money (being a ftranger), he would 
adventure fo much on it. Whereat I 
fwallowed a figh, and concealing my dif- 



A Bower of 'Delights. 



content, defired him to pardon me. I 
hoped to find fome of my countrymen in 
the city, that I would be as bold as I 
might withal. Thus, with an idle word 
or two, did I leave this good old gentle- 
man, in whom how much I was, and 
many more no doubt have been, mif- 
taken, I refer to the judgment of thofe 
that can fpell him with book, and my 
delire never to come near him within 
book. . . . The fhadow of a man, and 
the fubftance of a money-bag ; with 
charity or humanity, by the hypocritical 
figure of gravity, to be a creature of 
underftanding, a man of honour, and a 
bleffed reliever of the miferable. 

{J Mad World, my Majiers.) 

[With reference to the words ' bord ' 
and * aboard,' a quotation from George 
Herbert will make the meaning clear : 

* Affeft in things about thee cleanlinefTe, 
That all may gladly board thee, as a 
flower.' 

French aborder, to go or come fide by 
fide with ; hence it has the fame ety- 
mology and fignification as * accord ' 
{accoaji, Fr. cofte or cote) : ' accoll her or 



i62 A Bower of Delights, 

front her, board her, woo her, aflail her ' 
(' Twelfth Night,' i. 3). As a refulting 
fenfe, the French aborder alfo means to 
become familiar with. (Cotgrave.)] 

f 
SUMMER, 

It is now Summer, and Zephirus with 
his fweet breath cools the parching 
beams of Titan. The leaves of the 
trees are in whifper-talks of the blefTings 
of the air, while the nightingale is 
tuning her throat to refrefh the weary 
fpirit of the traveller. Flora now brings 
out her wardrobe, and richly em- 
broidereth her green apron. The 
nymphs of the woods, in concert with 
the Mufes, fing an ave to the morning 
and a vale to the fun's fetting. The lambs 
and the rabbits run at bafe [ = game of 
prifoner^s hafe'] in the fandy warrens, 
and the plough lands are covered with 
corn. The ftately hart is at lair in 
the high wood, while the hare in a 
furrow fits wafhing of her face. The 
bull makes his walk like a mafter of the 
field and the broad-headed ox bears the 



A Bower of 'Delights. 



garland of the market. The Angler 
with a fly takes his pleafure with the 
fifh, while the little merlin [ = hunting- 
hawk] hath the partridge in the foot. 
The honey-dews perfume the air, and 
the funny fhowers are the earth's com- 
fort. The greyhound on the plain 
makes the fair courfe, and the well- 
mouthed hound makes the mufic of the 
woods. The battle of the field is now 
ftoutly fought, and the proud rye mull 
ftoop to the fickle. The carter's whittle 
cheers his forehorfe, and drink and fweat 
is the life of the labourer. Idle fports 
are banifhed the limits of honour, while 
the ftudious brain brings forth his 
works. The azure fky fhows the heaven 
is gracious, and the glorious fun glads 
the fpirit of Nature. The ripened 
fruits fhow the beauty of the Earth, 
and the brightnefs of the air the glory 
of the heavens. In fum, for the world 
of work I find in it,. I thus conclude of 
it : I hold it a moft fweet reafon, the 
variety of pleafures and the paradife of 
Love. Farewell. 

{Fantajlics.) 



r 



164 A Bower of 'Delights. 



CHRISTMAS DAT. 

It is now Chrlftmas, and not a cup of 
drink muft pafs without a carol. The 
beafts, fowl and fifh come to a general 
execution, and the corn is ground to 
dull for the bakehoufe and the paftry. 
Cards and dice purge many a purfe, and 
the youth fhow their agility in fhooting 
of the wild mare.* Now good cheer 
and ' Welcome, and God be with you/ 
and ' I thank you,' and againft the New 
Year provide for the prefents. The 
Lord of Mifrule is no mean man for his 
time,t and the guefts of the high table 
muft lack no wine. The lufty bloods 
muft look about them like men, and 
piping and dancing puts away much 
melancholy. Stolen venifon is fweet, 
and a fat coney is worth money. Pit- 
falls [ = fnares'] are now fet for fmall 
birds and a woodcock hangs himfelf in 
a gin. A good fire heats all the houfe, 
and a full alms-bafket makes the beggar^s 
prayers. The Malkers and the Mummers 
make the merry fport ; but if they lofe 

* 'Wild mare ' = 01d English sport, 
f Along with Maskers of the Mummers, 
etc. =a sport of the season. 



A Bower of 'Delights. 



their money their drum goes dead. 
Swearers and fwaggerers are fent away 
to the alehoufe, and unruly wenches go 
in danger of judgment. Muficians now 
make their inftruments fpeak out, and 
a good fong is worth the hearing. In 
fum, it is a holy time, a duty in Chrif- 
tians for the remembrance of Chrift, 
and cuftom among friends for the main- 
tenance of good-fellowfhip. In brief, 
I thus conclude it : I hold it a memory 
of the Heaven's love and the World's 
peace, the mirth of the honefl and the 
meeting of the friendly. Farewell. 
{Fa?itajiics.) 



r 



EJSTER DJT. 

It is now Eafter, and Jack of Lent is 
turned out of doors. The fifhermen 
now hang up their nets to dry, while 
the calf and the lamb walk towards the 
kitchen and the paftry [qu. pantry r*]. 
The velvet heads of the foreft [ = deer'] 
fall at the loofe of the croff-bow. The 
falmon-trout plays with the fly, and the 
March rabbit runs dead into the difli. 



1 66 A Bower of Delights. 

The Indian commodities pay the mer- 
chant's adventure, and Barbary fugar 
puts honey out of countenance. The 
Holy Feaft is kept for the faithful, and 
a known Jew hath no place among 
Chriftians. The Earth now begins to 
paint her upper garment, and the trees 
put out their young buds ; the little kids 
chew their cuds, and the fwallow feeds 
on the flies in the air. The ftork 
cleaneth the brooks of the frogs, and the 
fpar-hawk prepares her wing for the 
partridge. The little fawn is ftolen 
from the doe, and the male deer begin to 
herd. The fpirit of youth is inclined 
to mirth, and the confcionable fcholar 
will not break a holiday. The minftrel 
calls the maid from her dinner, and the 
lover's eyes ^o troll the tennif-balls. 
There is mirth and joy when there is 
health and liberty ; and he that hath 
money will be no mean man in his 
manfion. The air is wholefome and the 
fky comfortable. The flowers are 
odoriferous, and the fruits pleafant. I 
conclude it is a day of much delightful- 
nefs : the fun's dancing day and the 
Earth's holiday. Farewell. 

(^Fantajiics.) 



A Bower of Delights. 



JUTHORS OF HIGH 
TRAGEDIES. 

Go tell the authors of High Tragedies 
That bloodlefs quarrels are but merry 

fights ; 
And fuch as beft conceit their Comedies, 
Do feed their fancies but with fond 

delights ; 
Where toys will fhow that figure 

Truth's intention, 
They fpoil their fports with too much 

invention. 



Go bid the Poets ftudy better matter, 
Than Mars and Venus in a Tragedy ; 
And bid them leave to learn, to lie and 

flatter, 
In plotting of a Lover's Comedy ; 

And bid Play-Writers better fpend 

their fpirits 
Than in fox-burrows or in coney- 
ferrits.* 

{PasfquWs Mejfage.) 

* See note under * Pasquil's Message ;' also 
our Introduction. Meantime, the last line of 
above quotation may be noted as a gird at 
unhappy Robert Greene and his * fox-burrows ' 
and ' coney '-catching books. 



1 68 A Bower of Delights. 



FOREIGN JND HOME TRAVEL. 

Adventures are dangerous, the feas j 
boifterous and the waves perilous ; and 
great is the difference between ftrange! 
companions and home friends. Whatj 
canft thou fee abroad that is not here ?| 
The fame Earth, and little different inj 
nature either for heat or cold. The 
fame fun fhining there that fhineth 
here. Men and women in the fame 
Ihape that thou feeft here. In their" 
univerfities the fame kind of fcholars.' 
In their cities, merchants and men ofj 
trade and traffic as we have in oursj 
Tn their villages, fuch farmers and! 
labourers. In their tribunal-feats, fucH 
judges. In their wars, fuch men of 
arms. In their Court, fuch lords and 
ladies ; and in all places fuch kind oj 
people as in fome places of our dominiorj 
thou mayeft take notice of if thou be 
circumfpeft. What fhall I fay to peri 
fuade thee rather to ftay at home thail 
flray abroad ? Thou hafl a father that 
loves thee more dearly than any friend 
can do ; a filler whofe virtue with her 
beauty deferveth an honourable fortune, 



A Bower of Delights. 



and which I think not thy leaft charge 
in confcience to have a care of, inaf- 
much as may be in thee to accomplifh ; 
thy mother holds thee fo dear as her 
life ; thy friends make a game of thy 
kindnefs ; thy followers in thine honour 
fettle the hope of their fortune, and my 
fubjefts in thy wifdom repofe the happi- 
nefs of their whole ftate. All this and 
many more particular caufes of content 
thou haft here at home, likely everyday 
to encreafe ; where abroad how bitter 
will be thy change, I fear to think, 
ftiould forrow to hear, and fhall not live 
to digeft. Then, perhaps, fuch may be 
the merciful nature of the glorious 
height of the Heaven's higheft grace, as 
may favour thy difpofition, profper thy 
adventures, and blefs thee in all thy 
aftions. But as it is ill to diftruft God, 
fo is it not good to tempt Him : anfwer 
me therefore truly to this, I demand of 
thee, whether thy delire be to travel or 
not, and what are the reafons that 
perfuade thy refolution ; however it be, 
you fhall find in me that kindnefs that 
the condition of thy love deferveth. 
{Strange Fortunes.) 



1 70 A Bower of Delights, 



JN USURER. 

An Ufurer is a figure of Mifery, who 
hath made himfelf a flave to his money. 
His eye is clof'd from pity, and his hand 
from charity ; his ear from compaffion 
and his heart from piety. While he 
lives he is the hate of a Chriftian, and 
when he dies, he goes with horror to 
Hell. His fludy is fparing, and his care 
is getting ; his fear is wanting, and his 
death is lofing. His diet is either falling 
or poor fare ; his clothing the hang- 
man's wardrobe ; his houfe the re- 
ceptacle of knavery, and his mufic the 
chinking of his money. He is a kind of 
canker that with the teeth of Intereft 
eats the hearts of the poor, and a 
venomous fly that fucks out the blood of 
any flefli that he alights on. In fum, 
he is a fervant of drofs, a flave to mifery, 
an agent for Hell and a devil in the 
world. {Good and Bad.) 



r 



A Bower of Delights. 



J BEGGAR, 

A Beggar is the child of Idlenefs, 
whofe life is a refolution of eafe. His 
travel is moil in the highways and his 
rendezvous is commonly an alehoufe. 
His ftudy is to counterfeit impotency 
and his pradice to cozen fimplicity of 
Charity. The juice of the malt is the 
liquor of his life, and at bed and board 
a loufe is his companion. He fears no 
fuch enemy as a conftable, and being 
acquainted with the flocks mufl vifit 
them as he goes by them. He is a drone 
that feeds upon the labours of the bee, 
and unhappily begotten that is born for 
no goodnefs. His flaff and his fcrip are 
his walking furniture, and what he lacks 
in meat he will have out in drink. He 
is a kind of caterpillar that fpoils much 
good fruit, and an unprofitable creature 
to live in a Commonwealth. He is 
feldom handfome and often noifome, 
always troublefome and never welcome. 
He prays for all and preys upon all ; 
begins with bleffing but ends often with 
curfing. If he has a licenfe he fhows it 
with a grace, but if he has none, he is 
fubmifTive to the ground. Sometimes 

_ __ 



172 A Bower of Delights. 

he is a thief, but always a rogue ; and 
in the nature of his profeffion the fhame 
of Humanity. In fum, he is commonly 
begot in a bufh, born in a barn, lives in 
a highway, and dies in a ditch. 

{Good and Bad.) 

r 

A WAGGERY. 

Children's ahs and women's ohs, 
Do a wondrous grief difclofe ; 
Where a dug the one will Hill, 
And the t'other but a will. 

Then in God's name let them cry ; 
While they cry they will not die ; 
For but few that are fo curfl 
As to cry until they burft. 

Say fome children are untoward ; 
So fome women are as fro ward ; 
Let them cry then, 'twill not kill them ; 
There is time enough to ftill them. 

But if Pity will be pleaf 'd 
To relieve the fmall difeaf 'd ; = uneafy 
When the help is once applying 
They will quickly leave their crying. 



A Bower of 'Delights. 



Let the child then luck his fill ; 
Let the woman have her will ; 
All will hulh was heard before ; 
iAh and oh will cry no more. 

{SVLelancholic Humours.) 



WATCHFULNESS, 

To have a kind of fuperficial fight 

In hawks and hounds, and horfe and 

fowl and fifh, 
Is not amifs ; but let thy heart's delight 
Be never fettled in an idle difh, 
Nor fhow thy folly in a wanton wifh ; 
Be filent to thyfelf whate'er thou 

thinkeft, 
And take good heed with whom and 

where thou drinkeft. 

Learn for inftru6lion, read for exercife ; 

Praflife for knowledge and for gain re- 
member ; 

In worldly pleafures make no paradife ; 

Know that thou art of Chrift His church 
a member, 

And do not make thine April in Sep- 
tember ; 



174 A Bower of Delights, 

Unto thy God in youth direft thy ways, 
And He will blefs thee in thine aged 
days. 

Let Confcience know the title of a crown, 
Yet know withal there is a King of 

kings. 
Who hoifteth up and headlong tumbleth 

down ; 
And all the world doth cover with His 

wings ; 
While heaven and earth but of His glory 

iings : 
To whom difcharge the love thou daily 

oweft, 
And He will blefs thee wherefoe'er thou 

goeft. 

Wink at the world as though thou 

faw'ft it not, 
And all Earth's treafure but as trafh 

defpife ; 
Let not thy folly^Jofe that wit hath got. 
Nor lofe an art by lack of exercife ; 
Yet let no labour honour prejudice ; 
Be wifely fparing but not miferable, = 

miferly 
And rather die than^be;difhonourable. 
{J Mother's Blejftng.) 



A Bower of Delights. 



YEOMAN: 1618— fO A 
COURTIER. 

For your gentlemen, we have good 
Yeomen that ufe more courtefy, or at 
leaft, kindnefs than courtefy, more 
friendship than compliments, and more 
truth than eloquence ; and perhaps I 
may tell you I think we have more 
ancient and true gentlemen that hold 
the plough in the field than you have 
in great places that wait with a trencher 
at a table ; and I have heard my 
father fay, this I believe to be true, that 
a true gentleman will be better known 
by his infide than his outfide : for (as 
he faid) a true gentleman will be like 
himfelf, fober but not proud, liberal and 
yet thrifty, wife but not full of words ; 
and better feen on the land than be too 
bufy with the laws : one that fears God, 
will be true to his king, and well knows 
how to live in the world, and whatfo- 
ever God fends hath the grace to be 
content with it ; loves his wife and his 
children, is careful for his family, is a 
friend to his neighbour and no enemy 
to himfelf; and this (faid my father) is 
indeed the true gentleman : and for his 



qualities, if he can fpeak well, and ride 
well, and fhoot well, and bowl well, we 
defire no more of him. But for kiffing 
of the hand, as if he were licking of his 
fingers, hanging down the head as if his 
neck were out of joint ; or scratched 
by the foot as if -he were a corn-cutter ; 
or leering afide like a wench after her 
fweetheart ; or winking with one eye 
as though he were levying at a wood- 
cock ; and fuch apifh tricks as came out 
of the Land of Petito, where a monkey 
and a baboon make an urchin generation; 
and for telling of tales of the adven- 
turous knight and the rtrange lady ; and 
for writing in rhyme or talking in profe 
with more tongues than teeth in his 
head ; and with that which he brought 
from beyond the feas which he cannot 
get rid of at home, for fwearing and 
braving, fcoffing and fnubbing, with 
fuch tricks of the devil's teaching, we 
allow none of that learning. 

{Courtier and Countryman.') 



THE END. 




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